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WlftC-  AU  WFOIlMArtON  TO 

BALOWIN.FELTS  DETECTIVES,  Inc. 

Roanoke,  Va.,  or  Bluefteld.  W.  Va.) 
WATCH  ALL  TRAINS,  ESPECIALLY  WEST  AND  SOOTH 
WATCH  OOTOOmO  VESSELS  AT  ALL  'SEAPORT  CITIES 


Wtrth  «,  ISIS 


Sidney  Edward*  was  tiraited  liU«a 


FACSIMILE  OF  REWARD  CIRCULAR  ISSUED  BV 
GOVERNOR  MANN. 


ALLEN 

OUTLAWS 

A  COMPLETE  HISTORY  OF  THEIR  LIVES 
AND  EXPLOITS 

CONCLUDING  WITH  THE  HILLSVILLE 
COURTHOUSE  TRAGEDY 


EDGAR  JAMES 


PROFUSELY  ILLUSTRATED 


PUBLISHED  BY 

PHOENIX  PUBLISHING  CO., 
Baltimore,  Md, 


% 


Copyright  1912,  by 
PHOENIX  PUBLISHING  CO., 
Baltimore,  Md. 


•V- 


■# 


indbx 


CHAPTER  I.  ^ 

The  Tragedy  in  the  Courtroom  at  Hillsvllle .  13 

CHAPTER  II. 

List  of  the  Dead  and  Wounded .  20 

CHAPTER  III. 

Governor  Mann  Takes  Quick  Action . . . . . . .  25 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Burial  of  the  Victims . . .  28 

CHAPTER  V. 

Pursuit  of  the  Daring  Outlaws .  30 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Man  Hunt  and  Its  Desperate  Details .  35 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Perils  of  Mountain  Pursuit.. .  40 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

On  the  Trail  of  the  Outlaws .  46 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Over  the  Border  Line  the  Allens  Flee  for  Safety . .  48 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Capture  of  Claude  Allen. . .  56 

CHAPTER  XL 

Claude  Allen’s  Story  of  the  Massacre .  62 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Friel  Allen,  the  Youngest  of  the  Outlaws,  Arrested .  70 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Capture  of  Sidney  Edwards .  74 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Jack  Allen  Visits  Hillsville  and  Attracts  Attention .  79 

CHAPTER  XV. 

On  the  Trail  of  Sidna  Allen . .  84 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Capture  of  Bill  Allen,  Son  of  Floyd  Allen .  89 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Story  of  an  Eye-Witness  to  the  Crime . . .  92 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Sidna  Allen’s  Farewell  to  His  Wife .  96 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Some  Traits  of  the  Mountaineers  that  are  Interesting. ...  99 

CHAPTER  XX. 

The  Allens  Are  Not  Common  Criminals . 102 

CHAPTER  XXL 

The  Character  and  Vows  of  the  Allens . 105 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

State’s  Attorney  Foster  Paid  for  Devotion  to  Duty . 107 

^Ill- 

Judge  Boyd  Tells  How  He  Outwitted  the  Allens . 110 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Floyd  Allen’s  Own  Story . . 


5 


1  N  D  E  X.^ ‘^Continued 


CHAPTER  XXV.  '  ' 

Varied  Pacts  and  Incidents  About  the  Allens . iis 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Some  Distorted  Stories  of  the  Mountain  Region . 124 

,  CHAPTER  XVII. 

In  the  Heart  of  the  Outlaws’  Country . 127 

,  CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Edgar  James  to  the  Scene  of  the  Outbreak . . . 133 

„  .  ^  ,  CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Pursuit  of  the  Last  of  the  Allen  Outlaws . 138 

„  CHAPTER  XXX. 

Nearing  the  End  of  a  Desperate  Chase .  141 

^  1  i  CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Taking  the  Prisoners  to  Roanoke  Prison .  144 

mu  T  ^  CHAPTER  XXXII. 

The  Law  of  the  Mountains  the  Code  of  the  Allens _ _ 147 

mu  A,.  T,  CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

The  Allen  Pursuit  Most  Remarkable  of  Modern  Times . 151 

^  ,  CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Planned  to  Starve  Out  the  Two  Fugitives  Still  at  Large. .  .165 
mu  r.  :  ,  ,  X,  CHAPTER  XXXV. 

The  Criminal  Records  of  the  Allens . .  ,  .  leo 

^  ■  CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

The  Allen  Gang  Bid  Deflance  to  Governor  Mann. .  164 

^  CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Local  Views  on  the  Allen  Gang .  166 

T  ^  X,  CHAPTER  XXXVIII.  '  '  ’  ' 

me  Loyalty  of  the  Mountain  Women  and  Their  Bravery.  .170 
.  CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

Allen  Clan  Members  Still  Evading  Arrest .  174 

Qoo  u  ,  CHAPTER  XXXX. 

bearchers  Growing  Weary  of  the  Long  Vigil. . . 179 

Ttrn,  X.  CHAPTER  XXXXI. 

Outlaws  Will  Be  Tried  When  Public  Opinion  Subsides. . .  .184 

Narrow  *  CHAI^ER  XXXXII. 

.Narrow  Escape  from  Death  of  a  Mountaineer . 187 


PREFACE 


When  Patrick  Henry,  of  Revolutionary  days, 
arose  in  an  impassioned  speech  and  exclaimed  with 
bated  breath,  “Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death!” 
he  perhaps  voiced  the  sentiments  of  the  Allen  gang 
of  mountains  outlaws,  although  in  a  far  more  holy 
cause — but  still  the  love  of  liberty  prevailed  su¬ 
preme  to  which  curtailment  of  freedom,  death  was 
preferable.  ' 

That  same  spirit  of  liberty  has  been  carried  down 
through  the  years  to  the  Virginia  mountaineer  of 
today,  and  whether  right  or  wrong  in  his  life  and 
its  precepts,  there  is  one  thing  he  holds  dearest  and 
best  among  it  all  and  that  is  freedom.  Captured 
and  imprisoned,  like  the  mountain  eagle,  he  soon 
lanquishes  and  dies,  a  victim  of  captivity.^ 

Reared  in  an  atmosphere  of  freedom,  raised  in  an 
altitude  where  the  people  live  in  the  open  air  and 
ar.e  imbued  with  the  idea  that  no  matter  what  a 
mountaineer  may  do,  his  freedom  is  still  his  own. 
The  legality  of  the  government  collecting  tax  on 
whiskey,  they  are  unable  to  comprehend,  hence  the 
“moonshine  still,”  which,  while  it  has  been  largely 
diminished  by  the  vigilance  of  the  United  States 
revenue  officers,  many  of  whom  have  lost  their 

9 


8 


TSE  ALLBN  OUTLAWS 


lives  in  the  struggle,  is  still  by  no  means  extinct 
and  never  will  be  until  the  last  freedom-loving 
mountaineer  has  been  laid  beneath  the  sod. 

In  his  little  cave  in  the  rocks  or  tiny  shack,  well 
hidden  in  the  mountain  fastnesses,  he  will  continue 
to  distill  the  “mountain  dew”  until  some  wily  rev¬ 
enue  officer  nabs  him  unawares  or  a  bullet  from  a 
government  rifle  ends  his  existence.  The  moun¬ 
taineer  will  die,  but  he  is  seldom  known  to  sur¬ 
render.  He  believes  that  God  made  the  mountains  and 
placed  him  among  them.  He  feels  they  ate  his  own, 
and  with  deadly  earnestness  he  resents  the  slightest 
intrusion  or  interference.  He  has  a  creed  of  his 
own  which  does  not  coincide  with  that  of  the  pow¬ 
ers  that  be,  and  that  creed  is  the  same  which  actu¬ 
ated  American  independence. 

The  same  doctrine  that  actuated  Patrick  Henry 
when  he  spoke  those  immortal  words,  “Give  me  lib¬ 
erty  or  give  me  death !” 

But  despite  the  valor  of  the  bold  mountaineers 
and  their  doctrines  of  sweet  liberty,  the  fact  re¬ 
mains  that  they  are  at  variance  with  the  law,  and 
that  their  foul  deed  of  murder  in  the  Hillsville,  Va.., 
courtroom  was  one  which  can  and  will  only  be 
atoned  for  with  blood.  Much  blood  has  been  shed 
in  consequence  of  it,  and  much  more  will  be  shed 
until  the  last  of  the  Allen  gang  has  been  wiped  out 
and  the  deadly  deed  avenged.  There  has  never 
been  in  the  history  -of  the  country  a  more  murder¬ 
ous,  desperate  act  than  that  of  the  Allen  gang.  The 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


9 


Blue  Ridge  mountaineers  have  committed  many 
deeds  of  lawlessness  and  desperation,  of  bloodshed 
and  tragedy,  but  this  eclipsed  them  all. 

Resistance  of  the  law  and  open  defiance  of  its 
officers  have  been  frequent,  but  rarely  if  ever  has 
their  defiance  gone  to  such  a  limit  as  to  convert  the 
courtroom  of  Carroll  county  into  a  shambles  and 
battle  ground,  where  every  feature  of  the  majesty 
of  the  law  was  set  at  naught,  where  a  fierce  pistol 
and  rifle  battle  raged  and  where  the  presiding  judge 
and  his  officers  were  ruthlessly  shot  down  in  cold 
blood,  simply  because  they  had  prosecuted  and 
convicted  a  mountain  outlaw,  who  had  some  time 
before  attacked  an  ofiicer  who  had  one  of  their 
gang  under  arrest,  and  who  had,  after  felling  the 
officer  with  a  blow  of  his  rifle  butt,  had  taken  the 
prisoner  from  him. 

It  is  a  tragedy  of  appalling  atrocity,  one  that 
sends  a  flame  of  indignation  over  the  whole  coun¬ 
try,  one  that  tells  of  a  savagery  and  barbarism  be¬ 
longing  to  another  age,  to  an  era  when  might  made 
right  and  when  desperate  deeds  were  applauded, 
when  resistance  to  authority  was  approved  and 
when  human  life  was  rated  as  of  little  value. 

Mountain  feuds  have  not  been  uncommon  in  far 
Southwest  Virginia,  and  like  those-  of  Tennessee 
and  Kentucky,  have  been  marked  by  frequent  as¬ 
sassinations  and  bloody  battles.  Women  and  chil¬ 
dren  have  been  victims  as  well- as  men,  and  not  in¬ 
frequently  have  whole  families  been  wiped  oui  be- 


10 


THE  AI-EEN  OUTLAWS 


fore  vengeance  was  satisfied.  These  have  been  car' 
ried  on  with  utter  contempt  for  the  law.  In  fact,  it 
would  be  counted  a  disgrace  for  any  involved  in 
them. to  appeal  to  the  law. 

He  would  be  branded  a  coward  even  by  those 
upon  whose  side  he  had  been  fighting  and  would  be 
cast  out  from  among  them.  These  feuds  are  open 
warfare,  with  the  rule  to  shoot  on  sight  and  to 
show  no  mercy.  For  a  time  they  have  not  been 
frequent,  but  this  cannot  be  accounted  for  through 
any  greater  respect  for  the  law,  but  it  may  be  that 
the  men  and  women  of  a  newer  generation  ha\e  be¬ 
gun  to  see  the  folly  of  them  and  prefer  to  live  Jn 
peace  rather  than  in  constant  danger  from  a  bullet 
shot  from  ambush. 

This  and  many  other  murderous  deeds  in  this 
wild  region  are  directly  or  indirectly  accountable  to 
the  moon  shine  industry  and  the  otherwise'  wide¬ 
spread  illicit  distilling  of  whiskey.  Time  and  time 
again  the  government  has  sent  its  officers  at  the 
peril  of  their  lives  into  this  wild  and  dangerous 
part  of  our  country  to  suppress  this  species  of 
crime,  and  many  is  the  time  they  have  never^  been 
heard  fro;n  since. 

The  extraordinary  measures  have  been 

taken  to  crush  out  this  illegal  manufacture  of  whis¬ 
key,  but  they  have  all  of  them  ignominously  failed, 
and  moonshining  still  flourishes  in  spite  of  Uncle 
Sam  and  all  his  officers  and  detectives. 

Farmers  who  are  counted  fairly  well-to-do  en- 


tHE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


gage  in  it,  hiding  their  stills  in  the  thick  under¬ 
brush,  sometimes  in  caves,  the  approach  to  which 
is  known  only  to  the  mountaineers  and  is  constant¬ 
ly  guarded  by  armed  men.  A  ready  sale  is  found 
for  the  fiery  liquor  thus  made  and  the  profit  is  suf¬ 
ficient  to  encourage  them  to  keep  up  the  business 
and  to  risk-  chances  of  discovery.  Even  when 
caught  in  a  government  raid,  the  chances  of  convic¬ 
tion  before  a  sympathetic  jury  and  with  witnesses 
who  are  probably  engaged  in  the  same  business  are 
very  slim,  and  when  such  conviction  does  occur  the 
penalties  are  not  severe  enough  to  prevent  others 
from  taking  a  chance. 

■  Sometimes  the  counterfeiting  of  coin  is  also  car¬ 
ried  on  by  these  mountaineers,  who  seem  to  count 
it  their  inherent  right  to  make  money  any  way  they 
can,  law  or  no  law. 

Governor  Mann  acted  promptly  and  in  a  manner 
so  vigorous  as  to  convince  the  country  he  would 
not  rest  until  every  outlaw  who  took  a  hand  in  the 
massacre  at  Hillsville  is  brought  to  punishment. 
Such  a  policy  is  the  only  one  he  can  pursue  and  it 
must  go  to  the  limit.  'There  can  be,  there  must  be, 
no  mercy  shown  to  any  member  of  the  Allen  gang. 
They  went  into  that  little  mountain  courtroom  fully 
armed  and  prepared  for  the  bloody  deed.  They 
acted  with  murderous  premeditation  and  did  not 
hesitate  until  their  work  was  done.  Then  they  rode 
back  to  their  mountain  hiding  places  and  prepared 
to  add  more  murders  to  their  list  by  shooting  down 


12  '  THE,  ALLEN  >OUTLAWS 

*  t 

any  who  might  seek  to  takq  them  alive.  To  captur^ 
them  all  will  be  no  easy  task,  but  it  had  to  be  done 
if  it  takes  the  whole  police  and  military  force  of 
Virginia  to  do  it.  ^ 


THE  ALI.E^  .{^Jf'LAWS  I3 


The  Allen  Outlaws 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Tragedy  in  the  Courtroom  at  Hillsville,  Carroll 
County,  Virginia — The  Mountain  Court  Wiped 
Out  by  Outlaws — Pistol  Battle  in  the  Halls  of 
^  Justice  —  Judge,  Sheriff  and  State’s  Attorney 
•*  Killed  and  Many  Wounded — Sensational  Story 
of  the  Desperate  Affair. 

It  was  a  grim  14th  of  March,  1912,  in  the  little 
'  courthouse  of  Carroll  county,  Virginia,  in  the  little 
village  of  Hillsville,  when  Judge  Thornton  L. 
Massie  and  his  brother  officials  gathered  to  try  one 
Floyd  Allen,  a  Blue  Ridge  mountaineer,  who  was 
charged  with  assaulting  a  deputy  sheriff  of  the 
county  by  striking  him  over  the  head  with  a  rifle 
and  taking  from  him  a  prisoner  who  was  charged 
with  the  old  familiar  offense  of  “moonshining or, 
in  other  words,  making  illicit  whiskey  in  a  moun¬ 
tain  still.  The  sheriff  was  left  for  dead  by  the  road¬ 
side  while  Floyd  Allen  and  the  captive  whom  he 
had  rescued  made  good  their  escape  to  the  fast¬ 
nesses  of  the  mountains  and  were  for  a  time  safe. 


14 


THE  ALLt.v  OUTLAWS^-w'.- 

But  justice  is  relentless  and  never  sleeps.  "ISiowly 
but  surely  the  net  of  the  law  closed  its  meshes  about 
them  both,  and  they  were  delivered  into  the  hands 
of  justice.  The  moonshiner  was  sentenced  to  a  long 
term,  and  then  Allen  was  convicted  of  the  charges 
against  him,  and  on  that  fateful  day  came  up  for 
sentence.  He  was  clearly  guilty,  had  been  given 
every  advantage  to  which  the  law  entitled  him,  and 
after  short  parley  Judge  Massie  gave  him  a  year  in 
the  State  prison  in  which  to  atone  for  his  crime. 
No  sooner  had  the  words  of  the  sentence  fallen  from 
the  lips  of  the  Judge  than  a  pistol  shot  rang  out  in 
the  courtroom  and  the  Judge  crumpled  over  his 
desk,  while  his  lifeblood  poured  out  in  a  stream  be¬ 
hind  it.  A  second  of  deathlike  silence  followed,  and 
then  the  battle  broke  out  in  all  its  deadly  venom.  Pis¬ 
tol  and  rifle  shots  mingled  with  the  cries  of  the  dead 
and  dying.  The  smoke  of  the  powder  almost  pre¬ 
vented  the  outlaws  and  officers  seeing  each  other. 

From  every  quarter  of  the  room  shots  rang  out  in 
quick  succession.  It  was  a  general  all-around  battle, 
and  officers  as  well  as  outlaws  were  firing  as  rapidly 
as  they  could  sight  and  discharge  their  weapons.  A 
perfect  fusilade  of  shots  aroused  the  entire  locality. 
In  one  corner  of  the  courtroom  the  outlaws  were 
gathered  together,  with  their  rifles  and  revolvers.  A 
second  after  Judge  Massie  had  fallen  over  his  <lesk, 
an  outlaw  blazed  away  with  his  Winchester  and  Com¬ 
monwealth  Attorney  William  Foster  threw  up  his 
hands  and  tottered  backwards  a  corpse.  Sheriff  Louis 


'  THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS  1 5 

Webb  saw  the  shot  and  the  man  who  fired  it.  Raising 
his  revolver,  he  drew  a  bead  on  the  outlaw,  but  before 
he  could  pull  the  trigger  a  shot  from  across  the  room 
struck  him  in  the  head,  the  revolver,  still  undis¬ 
charged,  flew  out  of  his  hand,  and  he  sank  dying  to 
the  floor.  The  wounded  also  lay  about  the  floor  with 
the  dead  and  the  place  resembled  a  shambles,  in  strik¬ 
ing  contrast  with  its  usual  orderliness  and  decorum. 
If  ever  the  majesty  of  the  law  was  trammeled  into  the 
dust,  it  was  then.  Blood  was  everywhere,  and  even 
the  Code  of  the  Laws  of  the  State,  which  the  dead 
Judge  had  just  but  a  few  moments  before  been  perus¬ 
ing,  was  stained  and  wet  with  the  jurist’s  blood. 
While  the  shooting  was  in  progress  the  spectators, 
with  whom  the  courtroom  was  well  filled,  were  mak¬ 
ing  panic-stricken  efforts  to  escape.  A  number  of 
them  had  been  hit  by  stray  bullets  and  lay  gasping  on 
the  floor.  Those  who  escaped  the  leaden  hail  had 
scattered  in  all  directions  and  were  fleeing  for  their 
lives. 

Within  less  than  a  minute  75  shots  were  fired.  Not 
a  shot  could  have  been  fired  horizontally  without  hit¬ 
ting  a  human  target.  The  reason  more  were  not  inno¬ 
cent  victims  was  because  the  gang  had  planned  in 
advance  and  picked  its  men.  Members  of  the  gang 
had  disposed  themselves  in  different  part^  of  the  room, 
so  that  they  could  fire  from  several  angles  and  still 
not  hit  each  other.  Sidna  Allen  was  on  the  side  of 
the  room  to  the  right,  and  a  little  to  the  front  of  Judge 
Massif :  Claude  Allen,  a  son  of  Floyd,  occupied  a  cor 


j5  the  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 

responding*  position  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room 
and  close  to  Clerk  of  the  Court  Dexter  Goad,  whose 
box  was  just  to  the  left  of  the  bench.  The  jurors  oc¬ 
cupied  chairs  directly  in  front  of  and  against  the 
bench. 

While  the  Judge  had  pronounced  sentence  on  Floyd 
Allen,  who  stood  within  the  railed  inclosure  in  the 
corner  diagonally  opposite  the  Commonwealth’s  At¬ 
torney  and  the  box  of  the  clerk,  one  of  the  despera¬ 
does’  attorneys  made  a  motion  to  release  his  client 
pending  application  for  a  new  trial.  The  Judge  re¬ 
fused  and  ordered  Sheriff  Lewis  F.  Webb  to  execute 
the  order  of  the  Court.  Then  Floyd  Allen  pressed 
himself  closer  into  the  angle  of  the  railing,  threw  back 
his  coat,  revealing  his  two  revolvers,  and  exclaimed, 
‘‘Gentlemen,  I  ain’t  goin’.” 

The  Sheriff  was  almost  leaping  for  him  as  he  drew 
his  guns.  At  the  same  instant  Sidna  Allen  rushed  for¬ 
ward  and  fired  the  first  shot  and  five  more  in  quick 
succession  at  Judge  Massie.  The  duel  between  Sher¬ 
iff  Webb  and  Floyd  Allen  was  fought  at  quarters  so 
close  that  shots  carried  powder  burns  as  well  as  bul¬ 
lets.  Floyd  Allen  killed  the  Commonwealth’s  Attor¬ 
ney  as  well  as  the  Sheriff;  Friel  Allen,  a  son  of  Jack 
Allen,  is  supposed  to  have  shot  Foster  in  the  back  as 
he  lay  dying  on  the  floor. 

It  was  all  over  in  a  minute.  Sidna  Allen  came 
plunging  down  the  short  flight  of  various  steps  lead¬ 
ing  to  the  courtroom  and  behind  him,  firing  as  he  ran, 
was  Dexter  Goad,  the  clerk.  Allen  ran  in  a  s^’mi- 


17 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 

circle  and  half-backward,  holding’  one  arm  in  front  of 
his  face  and  resting  his  guns  across  it  as  he  fired  at 
his  pursuer,  already  wounded  and  with  eight  bullet 
holes  in  his  clothes. 

The  terror  of  it  all  had  almost  paralzed  the  little 
peaceful  town,  and  scarcely  a  hand  was  raised  when 
the  outlaws,  with  the  rescued  prisoner,  came  running 
out  of  the  courthouse,  mounted  their  horses  and 
dashed  away  to  freedom  in  the  mountains.  It  was 
some  minutes  before  even  the  court  officers  who  had 
survived  recovered  from  the  shock  and  attempted  to 
p-ive  aid  to  the  wounded.  The  dead  were  removed  to 

o 

an  ante  room  and  doctors  hastily  sent  for  to  attend 
the  wounded.  They  had  a  busy  time,  as  many 
of  those  who  had  been  attracted  to  the  court¬ 
room  merely  through  curiosity  had  been  severly 
wounded  and  were  fast  bleeding  to  death.  As  quickly 
as  possible  the  surgeons  worked  to  save  these  lives. 
Several  of  the  wounded  were  taken  to  the  hotel,  which 
was  turned  into  a  sort  of  emergency  hospital. 

Miss  Isabelle  Goad,  daughter  of  Clerk  of  Court 
Dexter  Goad,  who  was  wounded,  is  a  heroine  of  the 
tragedy.  She  was  in  the  clerk’s  office  when  the  shoot¬ 
ing  began.  Running  to  the  courtroom  door,  she  pulled 
from  its  casing  one  of  the  Allen  gang  who  was  firing 
as  fast  as  he  could  pull  the  trigger  straight  at  the  court 
officers.  First  she  attempted  to  wrest  the  revolver 
from  the  outlaw’s  hand,  and,  failing  in  this,  she  caught 
the  man  by  the  coat  and  jerked  him  out  upon  the  porch. 

Narrow  escapes  were  many.  Coun^  Treasurer  J.  B, 


i8 


THE  AL.-EN  OUTLAWS 


Marshall  walked  fiom  the  room  and  down  the  steps 
before  the  fusilade  commenced.  He  had  started  around 
the  building,  but  hearing  the  shots  he  rushed  to  the 
foot  of  the  steps  and  met  Sidna  Allen  backing  down, 
firing  at  Clerk  Goad  as  he  retreated.  Mr.  Marshall 
blocked  the  mountaineers  path  and  Allen  whirled 
toward  the  Treasurer  and  fired  a  bullet  point  blank  at 
his  face.  It  missed  its  mark  and  lodged  in  a  window 
shutter  two  inches  above  Mr.  Marshall’s  head. 

Turning  again  to  Clerk  Goad,  who  continued  firing, 
Allen  got  behind  a  column  and  whipped  out  a  second 
pistol,  with  which  he  shot  the  Clerk  in  the  leg.  His 
bullets  exhausted,  he  rushed  across  the  street  to  buy 
more  cartridges.  The  store  he  tried  to  go'  to  was 
locked,  so  Allen  dashed  behind  the  building,  mounted 
his  horse  and  fled. 

Meanwhile  shooting  in  the  courtroom  continued  and 
the  crowd  stampeded. 


Floyd  Allen.— His  arrest  caused  the  murdering 
in  the  Hillsville  (Va. )  Oourthouse. 


19 


20 


TME  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  II 

List  of  the  Dead  and  Wounded,  Together  With-^ 
Further  Particulars  of  the  Courtroom  Tragedy 
— The  Flight  of  the  Outlaws  and  Close  Pur¬ 
suit  by  the  Officers  of  the  Law. 

The  shooting  terrorized  Hillsville  to  the  point  of 
paralysis,  There  was  not  a  man  to  give  an  order  or 
organize  a  pursuit.  Citizens  fled  to  place  of  safety, 
and  mothers  gathered  up  their  children  while  the 
assassins  rode  out  of  town 

Sheriff  Lewis  Webb  was  shot  and  killed  as  he 
reached  for  his  revolver.  Bullets  grazed  Clerk  Goad 
and  in  the  confusion  he  was  reported  killed.  Jurors 
who  had  been  slightly  wounded  were  reported  dead, 
and  by  that  indefinable  m-ethod  of  communication 
which  prevails  inn  the  woodland  country  reports  of  a 
wholesale  slaughter  went  out  to  the  countryside. 

The  list  of  the  dead  and  wounded  is  as  follows : 

The  dead; 

Judge  Thornton  L.  Massie. 

Commonwealth  Attorney  William  Foster. 

Sheriff  Louis  Webb. 


THE  AELEN  OUTLAWS 


21 


Elizabeth  Ayres,  a  witnets  for  AUie. 

The  wounded: 

Dexter  Good,  Clerk  of  the  Court. 

C.  C.  Fowler,  Juror. 

A.  C.  Kane,  Juror. 

- Faddis,  Juror. 

A.  T.  Howlett,  spectator. 

Bruce  Marshall,  spectator. 

Stuart  Worrell,  spectator. 

Sidney  Allen,  outlaw. 

Floyd  Allen,  the  prisoner. 

The  outlaws,  together  with  the  prisoner,  ecaped  to 
the  mountains  and  made  safe  retreat  into  the  depths 
of  the  mountain  forests,  where  pursuit  is  both  difficult 
and  capture  almost  impossible. 

A  special  train  from  Roanoke  brought  twenty  de¬ 
tectives  to  Galax,  the  nearest  railroad  station,  nine 
miles  away.  It  was  midnight  before  they  could  get 
over  the  mountain  roads,  hub  deep  in  spring  mud. 

A  reward  of  $i,ooo  for  the  capture  of  the  band  by 
Governor  Mann  was  increased  to  $3,000. 

Captain  F.  W.  Devant,  of  the  Second  Virginia 
Regiment,  was  ordered  to  go  to  Hillsville  with  two 
men,  twenty  rifles  and  ammunition. 

Sheriff  Webb  had  gone  up  into  the  mountains  and 
taken  Allen,  despite  dire  warnings  of  what  such  a 
venture  might  mean.  Attorney  Foster  had  prosecuted 
him  fearlessly,  and  a  mountaineer  jury,  gathered  from 
the  inland  section,  for  no  man  in  Carroll  County  cared 
to  sit  on  the  trial  of  an  Allen,  had  convicted  him. 


72 


THE  ALLE:'i  OUTLAWS 


That  fateful  morning  his  sentence  attracted  an  un¬ 
usually  large  gathering  to  the  quaint  old  red  brick 
Courthouse,  which  stands  on  a  green  square,  well  in 
the  center  of  the  village.  Those  who  could  not  get  in 
the  small  room  peered  through  the  windows  opened 
to  the  first  days  of  spring. 

Just  as  Allen  was  about  to  be  called  up  for  sen¬ 
tence  his  two  brothers,  Sidna  and  Jack,  at  the  head 
of  a  troop  of  twenty  mountaineers,  rode  up  to  the 
Courthouse.  Their  hardy  ponies,  splashed  with  mud, 
testified  to  a  long  ride  through  the  hills.  The  two 
brothers  and  their  companions,  some  carried  rifles  and 
others  armed  with  revolvers,  crowded  Into  the  small 
court  room  and  stood  behind  the  rail  and  about  the 
door. 

Floyd  Allen,  tall  and  gaunt,  much  the  familiar  type 
of  mountaineer,  was  in  the  dock.  In  his  youth  he  was 
a  fine  figure  of  strength,  and  even  at  fifty  now,  when 
his  reddish  brown  whiskers  are  turning  to  grSy,  he  is 
no  weakling. 

Judge  Massie  mounted  the  bench  and  Prosecutor 
Foster  moved  sentence  upon  Allen,  who  stood  up. 
There  was  a  shuffling  of  feet  and  a  general  movement 
among  tlie  mountaineers  in  the  back  of  the  room,  but 
no  sign  to  foretell  the  terrible  tragedy  then  in  the 
minds  of  every  one  of  them. 

The  usual  legal  formalities  over,  Judge  Massie  be¬ 
gan  pronouncing  sentence.  The  last  words  that  fell 
from  his  lips  precipitated  the  tragedy. 

‘'One — yean — at  hard — labor - ” 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS  23 

.  Before  the  last  word  was  cold  the  fusilade  began. 
Allen,  with  an  oath  that  he  would  never  go  to  prison, 
sprang  out  of  the  prisoner’s  dock  as  Judge  Massie 
collapsed  upon  the  bench.  Another  roar  of  shots  and 
Prosecutor  Foster  was  du  the  floor  in  a  heap.  Sheriff 
Webb  was  springing  forward  for  his  prisoner  when 
the  lead  found  him. 

Then  holding  the  panic-stricken  jurofs  and  onlook¬ 
ers  at  bay  the  assassins  backed  out  of  the  Courthouse 
and  across  the  green  to  the  troop  of  ponies.  In  a 
second  they  were  galloping  like  mad  through  the 
aroused  village  and  off  to  the  hills. 

With  them  the  assassins  half  carried,  half  dragged 
one  of  their  number,  wounded,  and  it  was  said  that 
this  was  Sidney  Allen,  one  of  the  brothers.  Three 
jurors,  Fowler,  Faddis  and  Kane,  and  A.  T.  Howlett, 
Bruce  Marshall  and  Stuart  Worrell,  bystanders,  were 
wounded. 

Floyd  Allen,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  was  shot  sev¬ 
eral  times,  but  not  fatally;  Sheriff  Webb’s  deputy, 
with  county  folk,  is  guarding  Allen. 

The  quiet  of  Hills ville  had  never  been  disturbed  by 
such  a  roar  of  firing  and  300  men,  women  and  chil¬ 
dren  rushed  to  the  Courthouse.  Webb  and  Foster 
were  stone  dead.  Judge  Massie  died  in  less  than  an 
hour. 

When  some  semblance  of  organization  came  out  of 
the  chaos  some  horsemen  hurried  down  into  Beaver 
Dam  Valley  to  spread  the  news  and  get  help.  More 


intrepid  ones  rode  off  toward  Betty  Baker,  where  there 
is  a  railroad  station  and  a  telegraph  wire.  Word  of 
the  tragedy  was  slow  in  getting  to  points  from  which 
help  could  be  asked,  but  the  machinery  of  the  law 
once  started,  worked  quickly. 


4 


AbivJiN  QMTLAWi 


25 


CHAPTER  III 

Governor  Mann  Takes  Quick  Action  in  the  Matter 
of  the  Pursuit  of  the  Outlaws,  and  Many  Brave 
Men  Are  Soon  Quickly  on  the  Trail  —  Some 
Remarkable  Facts  in  Connection  With  the  Des¬ 
perate  Affair. 

Governor  Mann  ordered  the  State  companies  of 
militia  at  Roanoke  and  Lynchburg  ready  to  move  to 
Hillsville  if  their  aid  should  be  necessary.  Police,  de¬ 
tectives  and  volunteers  from  nearby  places  took  all 
possible  means  of  transportation  to  get  to  Hillsville. 

Governor  Mann  also  telegraphed  to  Judge  W.  R. 
Staples,  of  the  Roanoke  Corporation  Court,  to  come 
to  Hillsville  and  take  charge  of  judicial  proceedings. 
Attorney  General  Williams,  of  the  State  of  Virginia, 
was  also  ordered  to  Hillsville. 

The  place  is  awkwardly  situated  for  such  an  emer¬ 
gency.  It  is  the  seat  of  Carroll  County  and  lies  in  the 
Beaver  Dam  Valley,  four  miles  from  the  top  of  the 
Blue  Ridge  Mountains.  Across  the  valley  a  strip  of 
indigo  along  the  sky  on  a  clear  day  shows  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  The  country  is  rough,  the  roads  are  bad 


26 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


and,  with  spring  thaws,  nearly  impassible.  Illicit  stills 
are  said  to  be  many. 

Floyd  Allen  lived  on  one  side  of  the  town  and  his 
two  brothers  on  the  other.  All  the  men  of  the  family 
have  been  known  as  stern  characters  and  were  feared 
by  many  in  the  county.  The  deputy  Sheriff  who 
would  serve  a  warrant  or  a  summons  on  one  of  them 
was  accounted  a  brave  man. 

Floyd  Allen’s  familiar  boast  was  that  he  had  thir¬ 
teen  bullet  holes  in  his  body  and  that  five  of  them  had 
been  put  there  by  his  brother. 

Sidna  Allen,  who  took  part  in  the  shooting,  is 
under  sentence  of  two-and-a-half  years  in  the  federal 
penitentiary  at  Atlanta  for  perjury  and  was  out  on  an 
appeal.  Allen  was  tried  with  Preston  Dickens  for 
counterfeiting.  Dickens  was  convicted  and  Allen  was 
acquitted,  but  was  convicted  of  perjury  for  his  testi¬ 
mony  in  the  case. 

The  Allens  are  regarded  as  well-to-do  people.  Some 
are  farmers  and  some  were  merchants. 

The  cause  of  the  assassinations  dates  back  to  last 
fall  when  a  Deputy  Sheriff  arrested  a  nephew  of 
Floyd  Allen  on  a  charge  of  illicit  distilling.  Enroute 
to  jail  Allen  intercepted  the  Sheriff  and  beat  him  into 
insensibility  with  the  butt  of  a  rifle  and  brass  knucks. 
Leaving  the  officer  for  dead  he  spirited  the  prisoner 
away  and  secreted  him.  Allen  was  on  trial  for  the 
assault. 

At  the  December  term  of  Court  Judge  Massie  was 
informed  that  the  officers  feared  to  arrest  Allen,  and 


Tlir:  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


27 


the  Court  then  announced  that  he  would  have  Allen 
brought  to  justice  if  he  had  to  go  out  of  the  County 
to  get  men  to  arrest  him.  Friends  of  Judge  Massie 
warned  him  that  his  words  were  indiscreet  and  that 
his  life  was  in  jeopardy.  Allen  was  never  arrested, 
but  furnished  bond  for  his  appearance  at  Court. 

Governor  Mann  said : 

The  murder  of  the  Judge,  Commonwealth’s  Attor¬ 
ney  and  Sheriff  of  Carroll  County  occurred  about  9 
o’clock  in  the  morning.  Hillsville,  the  County  seat 
of  Carroll,  is  about  five  miles  from  any  railroad,  but 
by  9.45  I  had  arranged  for  a  force  of  picked  men  to 
go  by  special  train  to  Hillsville,  arrest  the  murderers 
and  preserve  the  peace.  I  offered  a  reward  for  the 
arrest  of  the  murderers,  and  as  Carroll  is  on  the  North 
Carolina  line,  wired  the  Governor  of  that  State  to 
have  his  officers  look  out  for  and  arrest  the  guilty 
parties,  and  also  telegraphed  the  Sheriff  of  the  County 
in  North  Carolina  adjoining  Carroll  informing  him 
of  the  reward. 

I  have  designated  a  Judge  to  hold  the  remainder 
of  the  term  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Carroll,  and  to¬ 
morrow  morning  the  Attorney  General  of  the  State 
will  be  on  the  ground.  Everything  possible  will  be 
done  to  secure  the  arrest  and  conviction  of  the  mur¬ 
derers,  and  the  laws  of  this  Commonwealth  will  be 
faithfully  and  fearlessly  executed.” 


28 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  IV 

Burial  of  the  Victims — Sad  Scenes  at  the  Homes  of 
the  Murdered  Officials  and  Sad  Tribute  Paid 
by  Loving  Relatives  and  Friends-— Last  Rites 
and  Ceremonies  Over  the  Lamented  and  Vows 
of  Vengeance  Against  Their  Slayers. 

The  funeral  of  Judge  Massie,  a^inst  whom  the 
whole  venom  of  spite  of  the  Allen  gang  seemed  to 
have  been  specially  diverted,  although  he  was  in  the 
act  of  giving  Floyd  Allen  a  merciful  sentence  in  view 
of  his  offense  and  the  verdict  of  the  jury,  was  sad  and 
impressive.  The  entire  population  of  the  City  of 
Lynchburg  turned  out  to  do  him  homage  and  such 
deference  as  was  shown  has  seldom  been  equalled, 
even  in  that  town  of  big-hearted  people.  There  were 
more  than  fifty  close  friends  and  relatives  of  the  slain 
jurist  in  attendance,  to  say  nothing  of  the  vast  out¬ 
pouring  of  citizens  to  attest  their  sympathy  and  re¬ 
gard. 

Soon  after  arrival  the  body  was  convayad  to  the 
Fraab3rterian  Cemetery,  where  it  was  interred  in  tbe 
plot  belonging  to  the  Massie  family.  Services  ware 
conducted  by  Bishop  Tucker,  of  the  Episcopal  Church. 
The  pallbearers  were  residents  of  Pulaski,  and  they 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


29 


accompanied  the  remains.  Delegations  from  the 
Roanoke  and  the  Lynchburg  Bar  Associations  and  of 
the  Lynchburg  Elks  attended,  and  the  floral  designs 
were  numerous. 

Mrs.  Massie,  the  widow,  and  her  daughter,  who  are 
prostrated  by  shock,  were  unable  to  come  to  Lynch¬ 
burg,  and  the  two  sons  of  the  deceased  were  the  only 
members  of  the  immediate  family  at  the  funeral. 

Judge  Massie  carried  $16,000  insurance  on  his  life, 
one  policy  for  $4,000  having  been  written  within  the 
past  month. 

Sheriff  Lew  Webb  was  laid  to  rest  in  Snaky  Creek 
Cemetery.  Commonwealth  Attorney  Foster’s  body 
was  interred  in  a  little  family  ptot  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  town.  The  day  after  Elizabeth  Ayres  was  buried. 

Dexter  Goad,  Clerk  of  the  Court,  who  was  wounded 
in  the  head  during  the  fusilade  which  resulted  in  the 
death  of  Judge  Massie,  Commonwealth  Attorney  Fos¬ 
ter  and  Sheriff  Lewis  Webb,  had  sufficiently  recovered 
to  go  about  his  duties,  his  head  swathed  in  bandages. 

Great  crowds  of  the  people  of  the  vicinity  attended 
the  funerals  of  the  slain  men,  and  in  many  ways  evi¬ 
denced  their  sympathy  and  regrets. 


30 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  V 

/ 

Pursuit  of  the  Daring  Outlaws  Which  Led  to  Their 
Mountain  Dens — A  Hard  Chase  Which  is 
Joined  In  by  Law  Officers,  Detectives,  Soldiers 
and  Citizens,  But  Which  Was  Unavailing — 
Desperate  Character  of  the  Pursued  Awed  the 
Pursuers — A  Chase  for  Life  Over  the  Blue 
Ridge. 

After  shocked  and  stricken  Hillsville  had  settled 
down  to  at  least  a  semi-normal  state  after  the  battle 
in  the  Court  room,  Governor  Mann’s  vigorous  action 
and  hasty  orders  brought  forth  many  pursuers,  actu¬ 
ated  to  greater  efforts  by  the  promised  rewards  for 
the  Allens,  dead  or  alive,  and  next  day  there  were 
many  parties  in  pursuit,  consisting  of  the  State  law 
officers,  detectives,  both  police  and  private,  several 
companies  of  the  militia  and  numerous  posses  of 
heavily  armed  citizens,  who  took  a  chance  for  the 
reward  with  the  others. 

All  realized  it  was  to  be  a  fight  to  the  death,  and 
only  those  who  were  known  to  be  of  dauntless  cour¬ 
age  and  dead  shots  were  allowed  to  participate.  Floyd 
Allen,  the  prisoner  of  the  Court  of  the  day  before, 
about  whose  sentence  it  all  came  about,  was  the  first 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


3J 


to  be  captured,  together  with  his  son,  Victor  Allen, 
who  was  standing  nobly  by  him  in  his  hour  of  direct 
need. 

The  former’s  life  was  slowly  ebbing  away  as  the 
result  of  the  wounds  received  in  the  Courthouse  fray 
and  from  a  slashed  throat,  self-inflicted  with  a  pen¬ 
knife. 

The  detectives  arrived  in  Hillsville  early  in  the  day 
and  were  sworn  in  as  special  constables  of  the  county. 
They  immediately  went  to  the  hotel  room  where  Vic¬ 
tor  Allen  was  guarding  his  father,  Floyd  Allen,  and 
both  were  placed  under  arrest  without  afty  semblance 
of  figlit.  Immediately  upon  his  arrest  Floyd  Allen 
drew  a  penknife  and  slashed  his  throat,  but  the  offi¬ 
cers  prevented  the  carrying  out  of  his  intentions. 

Although  helpless  and  faint  from  loss  of  blood  and 
suffering,  Floyd  Allen  was  still  defiant.  Glaring  in 
fierce  hatred  at  the  officers  he  said ; 

“Ole  Floyd  Allen  ain’t  never  been  sent  to  no  prison 
yet,”  declared  the  would-be  suicide  and  murderer,  as 
the  surgeon  dressed  the  wound  in  his  throat,  “and 
there  ain’t  no  judge  or  sheriff  what’s  a-goin’  to  send 
him  thar  now.  The  boys  fit  like  hell  and  I  hope  they’ll 
git  away.  One  o’  them  hounds  got  me,  but  I’ll  never 
go  to  no  prison.  The  Allens  is  all  fighters.  I  reckon 
as  how  Tve  been  purty  free  with  my  gun,  and  whe"  I 
gits  away  I’ll  be  free  with  it  again.  The  boys  is 
a-comin’  back  for  me.  But  if  they  don’t  come  Fit 
never  go  to  no  prison  alive.” 

His  eyes,  peering  out  from  under  the  bushed  eye- 


TKX  ALLBN  OUTLAWS 


brows,  arc  cold  as  chilled  steel  and  as  steady  as  the 
hand  with  which  he  wielded  the  heavy  44  revolver  in 
the  courtroom  despite  the  fact  that  he  is  suffering 
agony  from  the  self-inflicted  wound  in  his  throat  and 
the  -wounds  he  received  in  the  fray. 

Judge  Walter  R.  Staples,  of  Roanoke,  who  ascended 
the  bench  of  the  Circuit  Court  to  hold  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  the  March  term,  summoned  a  special 
Grand  Jury,  which  was  convened  to  indict  the  mur¬ 
derers  of  Judge  Massie,  Commonwealth’s  Attorney 
W.  M.  Foster  and  Sheriff  Lee  F.  Webb.  Judge 
Staples,  accompanied  by  Attorney  General  Samuel  W. 
Williams,  arrived  in  Hillsville  next  afternoon.  A  large 
crowd  gathered  in  the  courtroom,  but  there  was  the 
best  of  order. 

Judge  Staples  appointed  S.  Floyd  Landreth,  of 
Galax,  as  special  attorney  for  the  Commonwealth. 

The  surprise  of  the  day  was  the  announcement  of 
the  death  of  Miss  Nancy  Elizabeth  Ayres,  a  nineteen- 
year-old  girl,  who  -was  in  the  Courtroom  that  day  as 
a  witness.  No  one  in  Hillsville  knew  she  had  been 
wounded  until  her  death  was  announced.  When  she 
left  town  for  her  home  she  did  not  know 
she  had  been  shot,  but  complained  of  bruises  which 
she  thought  she  had  received  in  the  mad  rush  from 
the  Courtroom.  Without  a  doubt  Miss  Ayres  was 
shot  accidentally. 

Detective  W.  G.  Baldwin  was  advised  next  day  that 
the  hardware  store  of  J.  W.  Creed,  in  Mount  Airy, 
N.  C.,  just  across  the  County  and  State  line,  had  been 


THE  ALLSN  OUTLAWS 


33 


entered  at  night  and  all  his  stock  of  rifles,  pistols  and 
ammunition  stolen.  This  work  is  presumed  to  have 
been  done  by  the  members  of  the  Allen  gang  or  their 
sympathizers,  and  it  indicated  that  the  remainder  of 
the  gang  mean  to  fight  to  the  last  ditch  before  sub 
mitting  to  the  mandates  of  the  law. 

Attorney  General  Williams  advised  Governor  Mann 
that  the  reconvening  of  the  Court,  with  Judge  Staples 
on  the  bench,  had  reassured  the  terror-stricken  people, 
and  that  Hillsville  had  relaxed  somewhat  from  the  ter¬ 
rible  strain  through  which  it  passed. 

Six  men,  mounted  on  foam-flecked  horses,  rode 
into  Mount  Airy,  just  over  the  North  Carolina  border, 
early  next  day.  They  were  not  Allens  by  name,  but 
they  were  Allens  by  clan.  They  drew  up  in  front  of  the 
town’s  only  hardware  store  and  three  of  them  dis¬ 
mounted.  The  other  three  drew  their  Winchesters 
from  the  saddle  sockets  and  laid  them  quietly  across 
the  withers  of  their  panting  steeds. 

”  In  fifteen  minutes,  while  a  swiftly  increasing  crowd 
was  gathering  about  the  riders,  the  three  men  who  had 
gone  into  ihe  store,  came  out  in  a  leisurely  way.  They 
were  carrying  guns,  pistols  and  boxes  of  ammunition. 
They  distributed  the  “hardware”  among  the  other 
three  and  then  all  six  galloped  out  of  town  toward  the 
more  isolated  mountains. 

The  people  of  the  town  went  in  and  found  the  store¬ 
keeper  senseless  behind  a  counter. 

The  outlaws  could  not  have  picked  a  better  time  to 
make  a  stand  against  their  pursuers.  Every  moun- 


34 


TKE  outlaws 


tain  brook  was  a  little  creek,  every  creek  a  small  river. 
The  heavy  rains  of  the  last  few  weeks  had  melted  the 
mountain  snows,  washed  out  the  roads,  carried  off  the 
bridges  and  made  mud  knee  deep.  The  hardiest  ponies 
flounder  up  the  grades  with  great  effort.  With  day¬ 
light  the  pursuit  was  renewed  with  reinforcements 
that  are  still  coming  from  the  countryside.  Features 
of  the  tragedy  have  been  so  many  that  all  probably 
never  will  be  told. 

Walter  Tipton,  a  lawyer,  who  was  defending  Floyd 
Allen  in  Court  was  a  brother-in-law  of  Common¬ 
wealth’s  Attorney  Foster  who  was  killed.  Tipton 
stood  beside  his  relative  when  Allen,  poking  his  gun 
under  Tipton’s  arm,  shot  down  Foster.  Who  killed 
Sheriff  Webb  is  not  definitely  known. 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


35 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Man  Hunt  and  Its  Desperate  Details — Storm¬ 
ing  the  House  of  Sidna  Allen  a  Part  of  the 
Fighting  Program — Stern  Detectives  and  Fear¬ 
less  Officers  on  the  Trail  of  Death. 

Never,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  the  United  States 
was  there  a  more  desperate  and  deadly  pursuit  of  a 
band  of  outlaws  than  that  made  up  of  the  loyal  offi¬ 
cials  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  the  famous  Baldwin 
detectives  and  the  militiamen,  who  went  in  pursuit  of 
the  Allens.  It  was  fully  understood  to  be  a  pursuit  to 
the  death,  where  no  mercy  would  be  expected  or 
shown.  Dead  or  alive  the  Allens  must  be  taken,  and 
they  have  declared  they  will  die  to  the  last  man  before 
they  will  submit  to  capture  and,  most  likely,  the  gal¬ 
lows.  They  prefer  death  by  the  bullet,  and  their  pref¬ 
erence  will  not  doubt  be  satisfied,  although  how  many 
of  the  pursuers  will  fall  before  their  certain  aim  is 
unknown.  A  remarkable  feature  of  the  pursuits  and 
fights  have  been  that  the  women  have  helped  their  men 
in  every  possible  manner,  and  it  is  believed  will  take 
a  part  in  the  actual  fighting  also  if  it  comes  to  a  show¬ 
down  and  their  aid  is  needed.  Soon  after  the  posses 
took  the  trail  they  proceeded  to  the  mansion  of  Sidna 
Allen,  where  it  was  suspected  he  was  in  hiding. 


36 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


The  Storming  of  Sidna  Allen’s  house  was  the  next 
thing  to  a  bombardment.  The  posse  trailed  through 
the  brush- four  miles  up  the  ridge  and  surrounded  his 
house. 

The  fight  was  a  stubborn  one  and  it  began  the 
instant  the  detectives  appeared  at  the  edge  of  the  clear¬ 
ing,  in  the  centre  of  which  the  Allen  house  stands. 

The  place  appeared  to  be  deserted,  and  the  detec¬ 
tives  were  debating  what  course  to  pursue  when  from 
a  window  facing  them  a  puff  of  smoke,  followed  by 
a  loud  report,  attracted  their  attention.  The  men  ran 
to  cover,  about  thirty  feet  distant,  and  hid  behind  trees 
and  bushes.  As  they  ran  several  bullets  from  a  Win¬ 
chester  rifle  scattered  the  dirt  at  the  heels  of  the  run¬ 
ning  men,  and  the  detectives  realized  they  had  a  fight 
on  their  hands. 

In  the  house  were  Allen  and  his  wife,  a  woman  of 
middle  age,  who  was  loiown  to  be  in  entire  sympathy 
with  the  acts  of  her  husband  and  his  relatives,  how¬ 
ever  subject  to  criticism  they  might  be.  She  was  tall, 
a  rough  rider;  she  knew  how  to  shoot  and  she  knew 
no  fear.  She  was  a  typical  mountaineer’s  mate,  and 
between  Allen  and  herself  existed  that  bond  of  friend¬ 
ship  and  fealty  which  death  alone  could  sever. 

When  news  reached  their  vicinity  that  the  detective 
posse  was  on  its  way  to  arrest  Sidna  Allen,  the  woman 
locked  up  the  house,  fastened  the  windows  and  then 
gathered  all  the  arms  within  reach  and  with  her  hus¬ 
band  prepared  to  receive  their  visitors,  who  were  at 
that  time  only  two  miles  away.  The  Allen  house 


Judge  Thornton  L.  Massie.  who  was  shot  to  dea<'’'  on  the 
bench  by  the  Allen  outlaws.  37 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


■  38 

stands  on  an  eminence  and  commands  a  good  view  of 
the  surrounding  country.  Long  before  the  detectives, 
who  were  commanded  by  T.  L.  Feltz,  appeared  in  the 
turn  of  the  road,  forty  rods  below,  their  position  was 
known  to  the  Allens  in  the  house  above. 

To  fight  to  the  death  long  has  been  the  battle  cry 
of  the  Allens,  and  this  intrepid  man  and  woman,  fight¬ 
ing  for  a  principle  sacred  to  them  as  Holy  Writ,  were 
resolved  to  kill  all  who  approached  even  though  the 
effort  cost  them  their  lives.  When  Feltz  ordered  his 
men  to  approach  the  house,  they  were  unaware  that 
the  Allens,  fully  armed  and  ready  for  the  emergency, 
were  watching  them  from  behind  the  custains  of  the 
windows. 

“Look  sharp,  boys !”  was  Feltz’s  warning,  as  the 
men  moved  in  an  irregular  line  up  the  slope.  Be  ready 
to  give  them  a  volley  should  anyone  be  in  the  house.” 

Even  as  he  spoke  Mrs.  Allen  opened  fire  from  the 
western  window.  Her  shot  fell  short,  and  as  the  de¬ 
tectives  turned  and  ran  to  get  out  of  the  line  of  fire 
and  to  make  plans  for  storming  the  house,  there  came 
other  shots  in  quick  succession.  Two  men  were  wound¬ 
ed,  and  they  are  believed  by  Feltz  to  be  Sam  Martin 
and  Harry  Lennox,  both  of  the  southern  part  of  the 
County.  They  were  carried  to  a  barn  near  the  house 
and  rendered  as  comfortable  as  circumstances  would 
permit. 

Meanwhile  Feltz,  after  consulting  with  his  men, 
decided  to  attack  the  house  from  the  rear  with  twelve 
men  and  with  twelve  others  to  storm  the  house  from 


THi:  iftiLEN  OUTLAWS 


39 


the  front.  The  remainder  of  the  force  was  scattered 
on  each  side  of  the  house,  with  orders  to  fire  into  win¬ 
dows  repeatedly. 

Within  five  minutes  the  house  looked  as  if  it  had 
been  splintered  with  hatchets.  During  this  terrible 
fusilade  shot  after  shot  came  in  defiant  answer  from 
windows  here  and  there,  showing  that  the  besieged 
were  still  capable  of  giving  an  account  of  themselves, 
though  hopelessly  outnumbered.  Every  window  was 
shattered  and  the  doors,  the  locks  of  which  had  been 
shot  away,  opened  repeatedly  and  were  as  often  closed 
by  the  occupants  of  the  place. 

For  thirty  minutes  the  battle  raged,  and  then  it  was 
observed  that  there  was  no  answering  fire.  What  had 
happened?  Feltz  led  ten  men  to  the  rear  porch  and, 
crawling  toward  the  doors  under  the  protection  of  the 
rifles  of  their  comrades,  who  had  orders  to  kill  any¬ 
body  who  appeared  at  the  door,  it  was  thrust  open  and 
the  men  entered. 

Sidna  Allen  the  outlaw  had  escaped  and  his  faithful 
wife  was  not  arrested,  as  no  one  had  been  killed  in 
the  fusillade. 


40 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  VII 

The  Perils  of  Mountain  Pursuit,  Where  Every  Tree 
May  Hide  a  Deadly  Enemy  and  Every  Rock  a 
Dangerous  Foe — ^The  Mountaineers  Are  Crafty 
Woodsmen  and  Could  Dodge  an  Army  in  Guer¬ 
rilla  Fighting — This  Section  of  the  Old  Domin¬ 
ion  as  Wild  as  the  Rockies. 

Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  the  Carroll  County  sec¬ 
tion  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  in  Virginia  is  as 
wild  as  the  heart  of  the  Rockies,  and  it  seems  almost 
impossible  that  such  a  wild  region  and  desperate  men 
could  exist  in  a  locality  so  close  to  the  very  center  of 
civilization.  That  almost  unexplored  regions  of  vast 
woods  and  wilderness  should  be  situated  within  a  few 
hours’  railroad  ride  of  the  Capitol  of  the  Old  Dominion 
State  is  on  the  verge  of  unbelief,  but  the  fact  remains 
that  as  great  forests  and  as  bad  men  as  ever  flourished 
in  the  days  of  Jesse  James  and  his  gang  in  the  wilds  of 
Missouri  are  today  still  in  existence  so  close  to  even 
the  Capital  of  the  State  and  Nation. 

While  there  are  many  who  may  have  condemned 
the  official  forces  in  pursuit  of  the  Allen  gang  for  not 
sooner  rounding  them  up  and  bringing  them  back  cap¬ 
tives,  those  same  critics  have  no  idea  of  the  vast  tangle 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


41 


of  difficulties  which  beset  the  pursuers.  In  the  first 
place  they  were  pursuing  men  of  the  most  desperate 
character,  who  are  absolutely  fearless  and  who  will 
face  death  as  cheerfully  as  a  child  plays  with  its  toys. 
They  have  been  born  in  an  atmosphere  of  danger  and 
reared  in  a  clime  of  bloodshed.  When  almost  tod¬ 
dling  infants  their  parents  taught  them  to  handle  and 
discharge  firearms  and  later  to  become  the  deadly 
marksmen  that  they  are  today.  In  the  hunting  of 
animal  or  human  game  they  are  dead  shots,  and,  as 
they  proudly  boast,  ‘Vhen  they  pull  the  trigger  some¬ 
thing  always  drops.”  They  live  in  a  creed  of  crude 
belief.  Their  ideas  are  that  God  put  them  here  to  do 
as  they  please  and  that  they  are  going  to  do  it  as  long 
as  they  live — and  in  the  hereafter  also,  if  there  is  one. 
They  recognize  no  man’s  right  to  dictate  law  or  rea¬ 
son.  Born  and  bred  in  the  wilds  of  nature,  they  rec¬ 
ognize  no  living  man  as  their  master,  and  although 
many  of  them  live  in  abject  poverty  and  mere  log 
shacks,  subsisting  on  the  roughest  food  and  wearing 
the  most  primitive  attire,  yet  withal  they  bear  the  pride 
of  the  forest  and  spirit  of  American  independence, 
which  would  have  won  worlds  for  the  nation  had  it 
not  been  misapplied. 

Their  rights,  as  they  consider  them,  are  inalienable, 
and  they  will  fight  unto  the  last  drop  of  blood  in  their 
bodies  to  maintain  these  God-given  rights.  Making 
moonshine  whiskey  is  one  of  them.  '‘Moonshine”  is 
the  term  applied  to  those  who  manufacture  crpde 
spirits  in  primtive  ways,  in  mountain  caves  and  fast- 


42 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


nesses  and  dispose  of  same  without  paying  the  gov¬ 
ernment  tax  which  is  exacted  by  the  United  States. 
They  make  it  of  corn,  rye,  wheat  or  most  any  gram, 
and  when  the  Revenue  Officers  discover  their  still  and 
attempt  their  arrest,  there  is  usually  a  desperate  battle, 
in  which  the  dead  are  left  lying  on  both  sides  of  the 
rugged  battlefield. 

These  mountaineers  know  the  mountains  like  the 
pilot  does  the  seas,  and  while  the  unlettered  in  the  lore 
of  mountain  warfare  may  be  stumbling  blindly  among 
the  rocks  and  trees,  the  deft  mountaineers  will  be  glid¬ 
ing  along  the  winding  pathways  picking  off  his  pur¬ 
suers  with  his  unerring  Winchester  every  time  one 
of  them  appears  in  sight.  And  so  expert  marksmen 
are  these  same  rough  men  of  the  mountain  that  they 
can  hit  a  man  as  far  as  they  can  see  him,  many  of  their 
rifles  carrying  a  deadly  missile  over  half  a  mile.  Know¬ 
ing  every  crag  and  rock,  every  path  and  fastness,  it  is 
practically  impossible  for  anyone  not  equally  well 
versed  in  this  craft  of  mountain  trailing  to  pursue  them 
and  perhaps  fatal  if  they  persist  in  their  efforts  to 
do  so.  There  are  caves  and  underground  caverns  in 
the  Blue  Ridge,  as  in  the  instance  of  Luray,  where 
living  man  could  not  but  sacrifice  his  life  in  an  at¬ 
tempt  to  pursue  these  outlaws. 

Carroll  County  lies  in  the  Southwestern  part  of  the 
State,  bordering  on  North  Carolina,  and  is  one  of  the 
richest  agricultural  and  mineral  sections  of  Virginia. 
Its  people  have  been  noted  for  their  disregard  of  both 
Federal  and  State  laws  for  years,  the  making  of  moon^ 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


43 


shine  whiskey  being  one  of  the  occupations  of  many 
residents. 

The  railroad  facilities  of  the  County  are  inadequate, 
only  one  train  a  day  going  as  far  as  “Betty  Baker.” 
This  terminus  is  about  five  miles  from  Hillsville,  the 
County  seat,  where  the  outbreak  occurred. 

Hillsville  is  about  6o  miles  from  Blacksburg,  75 
miles  from  Roanoke  and  130  miles  from  Lynchburg. 
The  shortest  route  from  Washington  is  by  way  of  the 
Southern  Railroad  to  Lynchburg,  thence  over  the  Nor¬ 
folk  and  Western  Railroad. 

The  inhabitants  of  Carroll  County  are  members  of 
some  of  the  oldest  American  stocks,  similar  to  the 
people  who  live  in  Western  North  Carolina,  Eastern 
Tennessee,  about  60  miles  away,  and  Eastern  Ken¬ 
tucky,  just  a  little  farther  off.  They  have  always  kept 
much  to  themselves,  and  unless  approached  in  diplo¬ 
matic  fashion,  resent  the  encroachments  or  improve¬ 
ments  offered  by  persons  from  more  progressive  com¬ 
munities. 

Toward  the  Carolina*,  border  the  County  is  nearly 
all  mountainous,  but  this  comprises  only  a  small  por¬ 
tion  of  its  area  of  -^45  square  miles.  The  rugged  coun¬ 
try  is,  of  course,  the  part  in  which  most  of  the  lawless¬ 
ness  has  existed.  The  roads  are  bad  and  it  is  difficult 
for  the  county  police  and  the  United  States  Internal 
Revenue  Officers  to  gain  access  to  the  “still”  operated 
by  the  old  “residenters,”  many  of  whom  honestly  be¬ 
lieve  that  the  Government  has  no  right  to  interfere 
with  their  methods  of  trade. 


44 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


The  poulation,  acoordmg  to  the  census  of  1900,  was 
59^303,  while  in  Hillsville  today  there  are  about  600 
persons.  More  than  three-fourths  of  the  people  are 
engaged  in  farming  and  stock  raising,  and,  while  the 
land  is  exceptionally  productive,  rairoad  facilities  are 
meagre  and  the  county  comparatively  poor. 


TKE  ALLEN  OWTLAWS 


45 


CHAPTER  VIII 

On  the  Trail  of  the  Outlaws — Safely  Ensconced 
Amid  the  Rocks  of  “Devil’s  Den,”  They  Defy 
Their  Pursuers — The  Place  Somewhat  Similar 
to  That  of  Gettysburg. 

One  of  the  most  deadly  and  terrible  places  of 
slaughter  at  the  great  battle  of  Gettysburg  nearly  a 
half  century  ago  was  known  as  the  “Devil’s  Den.”  It 
was  and  still  is  an  intricate  maze  of  rocks,  among 
which  the  fighting  soldiers  of  the  Union  forces  took 
refuge  as  a  stronghold  and  fought  with  fiendish  des¬ 
peration  for  the  whole  three  days  of  the  battle.  At 
its  conclusion  hundreds  of  dead  men  were  found  lying 
in  the  rocky  recesses,  where  they  had  been  shot  by 
Confederate  sharpshooters.  In  much  a  similar  retreat 
of  the  same  name  the  outlaws  sought  refuge  and  bade 
defiance  to  their  purusuers.  Two  thousand  feet  above 
sea  level  among  the  crags  and  caves  of  the  Blue  Ridge 
Mountains  the  Allen  gang  fortified  themselves. 

Those  who  know  the  paths  and  passes  of  the  high¬ 
land  and  the  points  of  vantage  from  which  outlaws 
could  ward  off  an  attacking  force  with  least  hurt  to 
themselves  say  that  the  Allens  unquestionably  were 
concealed  behind  the  overhanging  precipices  of  Devil’s 


46 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


Den,  half-way  between  Hillsville  and  Mount  Airy,  N, 
C.  There,  with  provisions  and  ammunition,  of  which 
it  said  they  have  plenty,  an  attacking  force  would 'find 
the  aim  of  the  Allens  deadly.  Spme  think  it  may  be 
necessary  to  dynamite  the  mountain  citadels. 

Quiet  prevailed  in  Hillsville  Sunday  after.  The  vil¬ 
lage  pastor  preached  in  favor  of  capital  punishment  at 
all  times,  and  there  was  no  mistaking  who  he  meant. 
From  the  countryside  came  the  curious  on  horseback, 
muleback,  by  ox  carts  and  rigs  of  every  description, 
.fording  the  high  water  of  the  creek  and  climbing  the 
steep  hills  to  the  summit  where  reposes  the  hamlet  of 
Hillsville. 

Dexter  Goad,  Clerk  of  the  Court,  with  a  bullet  in 
his  left  cheek  and  a  bandage  across  his  face,  showed 
the  folks  just  how  it  happened.  He  rehearsed  the 
scene  with  vivid  detail,  even  to  placing  the  bullet- 
scarred  chairs  which  were  occupied  by  Judge  Massie, 
Sheriff  Webb  and  Commonwealth’s  Attorney  Foster, 
A  row  of  bullet  holes,  low  on  the  right  liand  wall,  were 
added  evidence  of  the  tragedy. 

A  shattered  rail  in  front  of  the  Judge’s  bench  also 
showed  the  effect  of  the  fusilade  and  upon  the  floor 
was  the  discoloration  of  blood.  Goad  showed  how  At¬ 
torney  Foster,  after  being  fatally  shot,  staggered  and 
dropped  his  head  upon  a  sheepskin  volume  of  the  law. 
A  dark  clot  of  blood  on  the  book  was  mute  evidence. 

1  ndrew  Howlet  and  Stuart  Worrell,  both  bystand- 
cds,  wounded  at  the  assassination,  rested  easily.  One 
has  a  bullet  in  the  lung  and  the  other  was  shot  in  his 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


47 


side.  Juror  Columbus  Kane,  who  was  shot  in  the 
abdomen  and  is  most  seriously  injured  of  all,  may  die. 

Over  the  rain-channeled  mountainside  the  posse 
skulked  to  no  avail.  They  conducted  their  movements 
in  the  broad  glare  of  a  hot  sun,  which,  however,  helped 
to  dry  the  muddy  roads. 

Jasper  Allen,  known  as  Jack,  who  is  a  brother  of 
Sidna  and  Floyd,  but  who  is  said  not  to  have  been  in¬ 
volved  in  the  tragedy,  made  a  statement  tonight  on 
behalf  of  the  Allens.  At  his  home,  seven  miles  from 
Hillsville,  he  said: 

“I  am  greatly  surprised  and  shocked  at  what  has 
happened.  I  do  not  think  my  brothers  had  made  any 
plot  or  plan.  When  I  saw  Sidna  the  night  of  the 
shooting  he  told  me  he  knew  nothing  of  any  trouble 
beforehand  and  was  surprised  himself  when  the  shoot¬ 
ing  began  in  the  Courtroom. 

‘T  do  not  believe  my  relatives  will  give  themselves 
up,  for  I  am  not  sure  that  they  would  get  a  fair  trial 
in  Carroll  County. '  My  brother  Sidna  was  wounded 
when  he  passed  my  house  Thursday  night  and  was 
alone.  I  do  not  know  where  he  has  gone  and  have 
received  no  word  from  him  since.  I  shall  not  try  to 
advise  them  about  giving  themselves  up.  They  must 
do  as  they  think  best.” 


48 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  IX 

Over  the  Border  Line,  the  Allens  Flee  for  Safety — 
The  Outlaws  Flit  Across  Into  North  Carolina 
in  Search  of  Safety  and  Freedom. 

After  spending  several  days  among  the  rocky  peaks 
of  Devil’s  Den,  that  natural  fortress  grew  too  hot  for 
them  and  the  Allens  crossed  the  State  line  not  far  dis¬ 
tant  from  their  refuge  and  spent  some  time  in  North 
Carolina. 

The  mountain  country  which  the  Allens  entered  is 
the  roughest  in  the  Blue  Ridge  range,  and  aiforded 
them  greater  protection  even'than  they  enjoyed  in  the 
Devil’s  Den  on  the  Virginia  side.  In  addition  they 
have  complicated  the  work  of  their  pursuers  by  in¬ 
volving  a  question  of  State  jurisdiction,  but  steps 
were  immediately  taken  to  empower  the  Virginia  posse 
to  continue  the  hunt  on  the  North  Carolina  side. 

In  fact,  the  mountain  detectives  and  deputy  sheriffs 
started  without  any  special  authority  to  beat  through 
the  North  Carolina  cover. 

Information  reached  the  Baldwin-Feltz  detectives, 
that  the  Allens  have  finally  awakened  to  a  realization 
of  the  fact  that  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Virginia  are 
stronger  than  they  are. 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


49 


The  young-er  members  of  the  clan,  so  the  detectives 
learned,  have  finally  persuaded  the  older  heads  that 
it  is  useless  to  remain  the  Fancy  Gap  country  and  fight 
for  it;  that  if  one  band  of  detectives  is  picked  off  an¬ 
other  will  surely  appear. 

The  younger  Allens,  so  friends  of  the  family  have 
informed  the  government’s  forces,  were  preparing  to 
strike  for  the  West  and  they  were  going  to  take  old 
Sid  with  them.  The  only  thing  holding  therii  now  is 
Sid’s  condition.  He  was  wounded  twice  in  the  Court¬ 
house  shooting,  once  in  the  arm  and  again  the  shoul¬ 
der,  The  old  man  was  able  to  stick  to  his  horse  after 
the  tragedy,  but  his  wounds  are  regarded  as  serious. 

This  information  in  regard  to  the  plans  of  the  Allens 
is  likely  to  lead  to  more  prompt  and  drastic  action  on 
the  part  of  the  Virginia  forces  in  pushing  the  pursuit. 
The  impression  here  is  that  the  Allens  have  arranged 
to  leave  their  property  in  the  hands  of  Jack,  a  brother 
of  Floyd  and  Sid,  and  then  drop  back  gradually  to  the 
Fancy  Gap  country  after  the  talk  of  the  Courthouse 
shooting  has  died  down. 

Detective  Feltz  took  a  posse  off  into  the  hills  early 
in  the  mornin,  up  the  road  that  goes  over  Barbett  Knob 
and  Elk  Spur,  and  past  Fancy  Gap,  near  Devil’s  Den, 
where  the  outlaws  wene  reported  to  be  barricaded  in 
almost  impregnable  fortress  of  mountain  rock. 

The  posse  saw  none  of  the  gang  and  no  evidence  of 
their  presence,  but  kept  on  over  Garaner  Creek  and 
the  lone  Qedar  Fork,  to  the  Carolina  line  and  brought 
up  at  Mount  Airy.  At  least  a  dozen  houses,  the  homes 


50 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


of  members  of  the  Allen  clan  or  their  sympathizers, 
were  searched  on  the  way,  but  not  a  trace  of  the  out¬ 
laws  was  found. 

One  great  disadvantage  under  which  the  posse  work 
is  the  lack  of  communication  and  commissary  facili¬ 
ties.  Hillsville  is  the  base  from  which  they  are  oper¬ 
ating.  A  few  post  roads— fif  roads  they  might  be 
called* — ^wind  through  the  passes  between  the  “knobs” 
and  “spurs,”  with  which  the  geography  of  this  country 
abounds.  The  territory  is  sparsely  settled,  and  it  is 
next  to  impossible  to  stay  out  much  more  than  a  day. 
Men  so  equipped  are  not  much  of  a  match  for  such 
woodsmen  as  the  Allens  and  their  followers,  who  could 
live  bountifully  while  a  posse  was  being  starved. 

The  chances  for  a  getaway  to  Tennessee  of  Carolina 
look  good  when  one  views  the  topography.  Up  the 
slope  from  Hillsville  the  roads  twist  and  turn  through 
a  bush.  Pike  Knob,  which  overlooks  Reed  Island 
Creek,  is  3,200  feet  above  sea  level.  A  little  farther  on 
the  tip  of  Beamer  Knob  is  3,400.  Fancy  Gap,  the 
location  of  the  Devil’s  Den,  is  the  apex  of  the  climb, 
and  at  this  point  the  country  takes  on  a  character  that 
almost  defies  description.  All  that  is  visible  is  Piper 
Gap,  on  the  west,  a  stretch  of  bush  and  tangle  of 
laurel,  and  then  comes  Volunteer  Gap,  on  the  east. 

Down  at  the  bottom  the  Piper  Gap  road  winds  along 
to  Aaron,  Flower  Gap  and  back  to  Hillsville.  On  the 
other  side  the  Chambers  Valley  road  fights  its  way 
through  a  rocky  way,  fords  a  few  creeks,  makes  a  few 
junctions  with  a  few  roads  that  lead  nowhere  almost 


TME  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


5.T 

and  finally  .brings  up  at  a  continuation  of  Piper  Gap. 
In  the  space  bounded  by  these  roads  there  is  nothing, 
but  wilderness,  with  a  creek  or  two,  swollen  to  three 
times  its  capacity  at  the  bottom.  Somewhere  in  this 
vast  area  the  Allens  may  be  hidden  and  a  posse  search¬ 
ing  it  foot  by  foot  might  never  find  them. 

Sidna  Edwards,  with  a  price  of  $i,ooo  on  his  head, 
is  supposed  to  be  somewhere  with  an  injured  foot.  He 
has  had  time  to  join  the  Allens  if  he  knew  where  they 
are.  Meanwhile  the  indictments  for  the  murders  of 
Judge  Massie,  Prosecutor  Foster,  Sheriff  Webb  and 
the  two  bystanders  wait  to  be  served.  Some  folks  in 
this  country  declare  that  no  Allen  was  every  arrested 
while  he  could  fight,  and  that  none  will  be.  The  posse 
believe  that. 

Floyd  Allen  the  outlaw,  whose  sentence  by  the  Court 
prcciptated  the  massacre,  laid  in  the  Roanoke  jail  with 
wounds  and  a  broken  leg  to  fret  him,  and  moaned  that 
he  wished  he  had  followed  his  wife’s  advice. 

‘T’ve  got  a  good  wife,”  said  the  outlaw.  “If  Fd 
done  as  she  told  me,  I  wouldn’t  be  here  now.” 

The  men  who  found  Mrs.  Allen  at  her  home  say 
she  was  distracted.  The  Rev.  T.  Claggett  Skinner 
saw  Allen  and  later  issued  a  statement  in  which  he  de¬ 
clared  that  Mr,  Allen  was  a  much  better  looking  man 
than  his  published  photographs  indicated. 

Feltz  and  his  men  were  having  a  pitched  battle  with 
Edwards,  who  had  been  surrounded  Feltz  denied 
that  on  his  return. 

The  pursuers  hope  soon  for  some  action.  The 


52 


TKE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


posses  will  get  out  again,  while  the  North  Carolina 
officers  are  working  over  to  meet  them.  They  hope  to 
drive  the  gang  to  cover  between  them. 

The  State  authorities  continued  to  pile  rifles  an^^ 
ammunition  up  in  the  troubled  County  today.  Two 
shipments  of  rifles  and  bullets  were  made  from  Ro¬ 
anoke.  They  were  unloaded  at  Galax  and  brought 
here  in  wagons.  The  posses  are  well  armed  with  State 
militia  equipment. 

Discovery  of  moonshine  operations  of  Floyd  Allen 
and  his  nephews,  the  Edwards  boys,  w'as  one  of  the 
most  important  discoveries.  Jack  Allen  was  the  only 
member  of  the  gang  whose  name  had  been  connected 
with  illicit  trafficking  in  liquor,  and  n,obody  had  ever 
accused  him  of  moonshining. 

The  most  that  was  ever  charged  against  Jack  was 
that  he  was  a  “blockader,’  a  man  who  handled  and  sold 
the  “white  lightning”  turned  out  by  the  moonshine 
stills.  It  was  supposed  that  the  Allens  were  too  clever 
to  risk  themselves  in  the  actual  manufacture  of  the 
moonshine,  that  they  had  made  their  money  for  sup¬ 
plying  the  funds  for  others  to  operate. 

The  uncovering  of  these  stills  put  a  new  light  on 
the  motives  of  the  Allen  gang  in  shooting  up  the  Car- 
roll  County  Court.  They  realized  that  the  sentencing 
of  old  Floyd  Allen  to  jail  foreshadowed  the  cleaning 
of  the  Fancy  Gap  section  by  Sheriff  Webb  and  the  en¬ 
forcement  of  the  law  by  Judge  Massie.  It  meant  the 
end  of  an  industry  that  had  made  the  Allens  powerful 
and  possible  prosecutions  by  the  Federal  Government. 


Dexter  Goad.  Clerk  of  the  Court,  who  was  badly  wounded  by  the 
Allen  outlaws.  Goad  was  the  man  who  wounded  Floyd  Allen 

and  brought  about  his  capture.  S3 


54 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


This  threatened  invasion  of  the  mountaineers'  “right 
to  moonshine,”  together  with  the  pride  of  the  Allens, 
and  their  boast  that  not  one  of  the  clan  would  ever  go 
to  jail,  helps  to  explain  the  cowardly  murders  in  the 
Court. 

The  right  of  the  moonshiner  to  make  whiskey  from 
his  corn  was  just  as  valid  in  the  code  of  the  Allens  as 
was  the  right  of  the  farmer  to  make  meal  from  the. 
'same  product. 

The  still  which  the  mountain  detectives  found  in  the 
^basement  of  Floyd  Allen’s  house  was  a  fine  one,  with 
a  large  capacity,  Floyd’s  house,  like  those  of  the  other 
Allens,  is  up  to  date  and  comfortable.  This  still  in  the 
basement  might  easily  have  been  mistaken  for  a  laun¬ 
dry-room  in  a  modern  New  York  city  home.  Floyd 
stored  the  “white  lightning”  in  his  cellar  as  it  came 
from  the  still.  The  detectives  took  possession  of  90 
gallons  and  also  carried  the  still  away  with  them  as  evi¬ 
dence.  The  two  stills  discovered  at  the  home  of  the 
Edwards  boys  were  operated  in  as  barefaced  manner  as 
the  one  of  old  Floyd  Allen.  This  is  one  of  the  first  in¬ 
stances  on  record  in  this  moonshining  country  where  a 
still  has  been  found  in  the  home  of  moonshiners. 

The  circumstance  is  further  evidence  of  the  crafti¬ 
ness  of  the  Allen  gang.  Federal  revenue  officers  ac¬ 
knowledged  that  Floyd  Allen’s  cellar  would  have  been 
the  last  place  they  would  have  looked  for  a  “plant.”  To 
make  moonshine  it  is  necessary  to  have  smoke,  and  the 
smoke  more  often  than  anything  else  leads  to  detection. 
Floyd  Allen  piped  the  smoke  from  his  still  to  the  chim- 


f 

THE  AlLEN  OUTLAWS  55 

I 

ney,  and  let  it  go  up  with  the  cloud  rising  from  the 
kitchen  cook  stove. 

The  finding  of  the  stills  is  important  in  that  it  will 
draw  the  federal  authorities  into  the  hunt  for  the  Al¬ 
lens. 


56 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  X 

The  Capture  o£  Claude  Allen  —  Put  Through  the 
“Third  Degree”  by  the  Detectives,  But  Dis¬ 
closes  Little — Weaving  the  Net  of  Evidence. 

.The  arrest  of  Claude  Allen,  another  of  the  gang, 
was  without  bloodshed  or  violence.  He  quietly  sur¬ 
rendered  when  ordered  to  do  so.  He  was  the  fifth  of 
the  gang  to  be  captured  and  soon  after  his  arrest  faced 
a  searching  inquisition  at  the  hands  of  Thomas  L. 
Felts,  the  field  chief  of  detectives,'  who  made  the 
capture. 

Toward  the  close  of  that  ordeal,  which  the  youth 
had  sustained  unflinchingly,  his  inquisitor  forced  a 
dramatic  climax.  Gazing  searchingly  ■  into  the  clear 
blue  eyes  of  the  mountaineer,  Mr.  Felts  inquired: 

“Are  you  glad  you  are  caught,  or  sorry?” 

The  young  giant’s  face  relaxed  into  a  boyish  grin 
as  he  answered: 

“Well,  I  think  I  am  tolerably  well  satisfied.”  Then 
the  smile  vanished,  as  he  added  more  seriously:  “Of 
course,  a  man  can’t  very  well  tell  about  that.” 

“Claude,  what  are  you  expecting?  What  do  you 
now  believe  is  ahead  of  you?” 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


57 


*  In  the  tone  of  a  man  who  has  deMberately  consid- 
ered'his  prospects,  Allen  replied : 

“Well,  I’m  expecting  the  penitentiary.” 

“Are  you  expecting  the  chair?”  asked  the  detective 
chief. 

“No,  sir,  I  am  not.” 

“Because  I  don’t  think  I  killed  anybody,  and,  if  I 
did,  I  did  it  accidentally,  while  aiming  at  someone 
else.”  y 

“How  many  of  the  jurymen  did  you  shoot  at?” 

“Nary  one.  I  didn’t  take  particular  aim  at  anybody 
except  Mr,  Goad.  The  smoke  in  the  room  was  so  thiclc 
I  could  not  see  the  others.  There  had  been  a  whole  lot 
of  shots  fired  before  I  began  to  shoot.” 

Claude  Allen  has  been  fairly  well  taught.  He  has 
had  more  than  a  country  schoolhouse  education,  for  he 
topped  that  off  with  a  course  in  a  Raleigh  commercial 
college,  and  he  writes  an  excellent  letter  in  a  good, 
clerky  hand.  He  is  intelligent  and  naturally  shrewd, 
but  his  ideas  of  the  criminal  law  are  rudimentary.  He 
was  evidently  basing  his  hope  of  escaping  the  chair 
on  the  contention  that  the  bullets  he  fired  did  not  ac¬ 
tually  kill.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  probably  will  be 
shown  that  Claude’s  weapon  killed  the  juror,  Augus¬ 
tus  Fowler,  but  this  handsome,  overgrown  boy  does 
not  know  that  the  law  must  hold  him  equally  guilty, 
even  though  no  ball  from  his  revolver  actually  in¬ 
flicted  death.  He  did  not  know  that  the  naive  admis¬ 
sion,  “If  I  did  kill  anybody  I  did  it  accidentally,  while 


5® 


T*E  ALLE>:  OUTLAWS 


aiming  at  somebody  else,”  is  alone  enough  to  seal  his 
fate.  ^ 

Allen  resisted  efforts  to  force  from  him  the  names 
of  those  who  had  befriended  him  since  he  took  to  the 
woods,  bringing  him  food,  water  and  blankets.  The 
prisoner  admitted  he  received  fresh  rations  almost 
every  night  from  persons  who  brought  them  to  his 
mountain  lair  after  dark.  Mr.  Felts  plied  him  hard, 
but  he  refused  to  involve  members  of  his  family  or 
friends. 

“I  don’t  think  it  is  necessary  for  me  to  tell  you  that,’’ 
he  replied  several  times  with  a  good-natured  laugh, 
and  once  he  varied  that  formula  by  answering,  “Let’s 
not  talk  about  that  part  of  it  any  more.” 

Finally,  after  strong  pressure,  Allen  admitted  that 
two  of  the  men  who  had  seen  and  conversed  with  him 
since  a  price  was  placed  upon  his  head  were  Henry 
Easter  and  Daniel  Tolbert.  Both  men  are  farmers  in 
the  Fancy  Gap  district,  neighbors  of  the  Allens,  and 
Daniel  Tolbert  is  a  cousin  of  Claude  Allen. 

The  capture  of  Claude  Allen  alone  was  really  a  sur¬ 
prise.  He  was  the  one  man  of  the  band  whose  escape 
to  a  distant  State  the  detectives  had  admitted  as  likely. 
Claude  had  often  talked  of  trying  his  fortunes  in  the 
West. 

Mr.  Felts  conducted  his  inquisition  in  the  room  of 
the  Texas  Hotel,  which  has  served  as  headquartesr  for 
the  armed  rangers  and  raiders.  Messrs.  Lucas  and 
Payne  took  the  prisoner  from  his  cell  at  9  o’clock  and 
brought  him  manacled  to  the  hotel.  There  his  wrists 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


59 


were  freed  and  he  w’as  seated  where  the  light  of  a  ker¬ 
osene  lamp  fell  upon  his  rugged  young  features. 

About  the  room  stood  repeating  rifles,  cartridge  belts 
hung  from  the  nails  in  the  wall  and  in  the  corners  of 
the  apartments  were  piled  boxes  of  ammunition.  The 
place  looked  like  a  miniature  arsenal. 

Mr.  Felts  occupied  a  rocking  chair  facing  the  priso¬ 
ner.  The  chief  had  removed  one  boot  and  legging 
and  was  nursing  a  bruised  foot.  His  horse  had  stepped 
on  it  as  he  slipped  in  the  rain  and  mud  while  dismount¬ 
ing  here  when  he  came  galloping  in  from  the  'Tront.” 
Seated  on  chairs,  beds  and  boxes,  lolling  in  easy  atti¬ 
tudes,  were  the  other  men  w^ho  had  been  invited  to  this 
strange  interviewL 

These  included,  in  addition  to  Mr.  Felts  and  the  dep¬ 
uties,  Messrs.  Lucas,  Payne  and  Braham,  the  w'ounded 
Court  Clerk,  Dexter  Goad,  Albert  Baldwin,  one  of  the 
detective  agency  chiefs;  Walter  Belk,  of  the  same  or¬ 
ganization;  Commonwealth  Attorney  S.  Floyd  Lan- 
dreth;  Captain  Davant  and  Sergeant  White,  of  the 
Second  Virginia  Infantry,  and  the  writer. 

During  the  examination  the  prisoner  volunteered  no 
information,  but  he  answered  readily  enough  such 
questions  as  he  desired  to  reply  to  at  all.  To  others  he 
either  refused  an  answer,  never  in  a  surly  or  defiant 
way,  but  alw^ay-s  with  a  laugh,  or  else  he  looked 
thoughtful  a  moment  and  then  took  refuge  in  the  for¬ 
mula,  ‘T  don't  just  remember.” 

Allen  lighted  one  cigarette  after  another  and 
smoked  them  steadily  during  his  ordeal.  He  never  be- . 


6o 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


trayed  either  a  trace  of  nervousness  or  of  bravado.  The 
sinewy  hand  that  repeatedly  held  a  lighted  match  to 
his  cigarette  and  then  tossed  it  into  the  fireplace  did 
not  tremble.  Once  when  a  cigar  was  offered  to  him 
he  declined  it  with  polite  thanks. 

Under  the  inquisition  x\llen  said  he  had  never  heard 
of  any  concerted  intention  to  shoot  the  court  officers 
and  thus  free  his  father.  He  did  not  begin  firing  until 
many  shots  had  been  discharged.  His  weapon  was  a 
38-caliber  .revolver,  from  which  he  admitted  he  had 
fired  four  shots  inside  the  courtroom,  all  directed  at 
Mr.  Goad,  who  was  apparently  shooting  at  Floyd  Al¬ 
len,  the  prisoner  who  had  just  been  convicted  and  had 
refused  to  go  to  jail.  As  he  came  out  of  the  court¬ 
room,  Claude  Allen  said,  he  found  his  weapon  had 
jammed  after  firing  the  fourth  shot.  He  got  it  freed, 
and  after  that  aimed  one  more  shot  after  he  had 
reached  the  street.  It  also  was  directed  at  the  court 
clerk,  who,  despite  his  wound,  was  following  the  out¬ 
laws  in  their  retreat,  and , blazing  away  at  them  from 
his  automatic  pistol. 

The  prisoner  persistently  parried  all  attempts  to 
make  him  admit  that  me  of  his  bullets  might  have  hit 
Judge  Massie  or  Mr.  b'owler,  the  juror  who  was  killed. 

Allen  said  he  had  only  one  revolver  in  court.  The 
other  weapon  which  he  had  when  captured  was  the  38- 
caliber  hammerless  revolver  which  his  wounded  father 
had  given  to  him  when  the  older  man  tried  in  vain  to 
remount  his  horse,  and  was  unable  to  do  so  because  of 
his  wounded  leg.  The  latter  revolver  is  the  weapon 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


6i 


for  which  Sheriff  Edwards  and  Mr.  Belk  afterwards 
made  a  search  in  the  room  of  the  Elliott  Hotel  in 
which  Floyd  Allen  lay  wounded  before  going  to  jail. 
Claude  said  he  did  not  see  his  older  brother  ffo  any 
shooting,  and  did  not  know  whether  or  not  Victor  was 
armed,  although  the  latter,  he  thought,  owned  a  32- 
caliber  revolver.  He  was  sure  neither  Victor  nor  him¬ 
self  had  an  automatic  pistol. 

The  prisoner  admitted  that  when  the  shooting  began 
'he  was  standing  directly  beside  his  uncle,  Sidna  Allen, 
on  one  of  the  benches  to  the  right  of  the  Judge’s  chair. 
Fie  said  he  saw  his  uncle  shooting,  but  did  not  know 
who  he  hit,  at  whom  he  was  aiming  nor  how  often  he 
fired.  His  uncle’s  weapon,  he  thought,  was  a  38-cal¬ 
ibre  revolver,  and  if  Sidna  Allen  had  an  automatic 
pistol,  the  prisoner  said,  he  did  not  know  it.  The  pris¬ 
oner  was  equally  uncertain  concerning  the  direction  in 
which  his  father  was  shooting.  He  refused  to  admit 
that  Floyd  Allen  was  shooting  at  Sheriff  Webb  and 
Mr.  Foster,  both  of  whom  were  killed. 


62 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XI 

Claude  Allen’s  Story  of  the  Massacre  Continued— 
Captured  Outlaw  Smokes  Cigarettes  and  Gives 
Further  Graphic  Account  of  the  Courthouse 
Tragedy. 

“Did  not  your  brother  Victor  tell  you  as  you  ran  out 
of  the  courtroom,  ‘For  God’s  sake,  Claude,  stop  this’? 

“I  think  he  did  ask  me  to  quit.” 

“And  did  you  not  reply,  ‘I’m  in  this  thing  deep  now, 
and  I  might  as  well  get  in  deeper’?” 

“No,  I  never  said  that ;  I  think  I  made  no  reply,  but 
I  can’t  exactly  remember.” 

Fie  frankly  admitted  it  was  he  to  whom  his  father 
had  beckoned  to  come  to  the  bar  for  a  whispered  con¬ 
versation  just  before  the  imposition  of  sentence.  He 
said,  however,  that  he  had  no  intimation  of  what  was 
coming.  His  father  only  wanted  him  to  carry  a  mes¬ 
sage  to  a  Mr.  Dawson,  which  he  thought  might  affect 
the  appeal  of  his  case  Some  persons  have  said  it  was 
A’ictor  who  was  thus  summoned  by  the  father.  Claude’s 
admission  is  expected  to  strengthen  the  possibility  of 
the  acquittal  of  Victor,  against  whom  the  prosecution 
admits  that  its  case  is  by  no  means  strong. 

Immediately  after  the  rush  from  the  courthouse, 


TMK  ALLEN  OUTLAWS  63 

Alien  said,  he  went  to  his  home.  “I  got  a  man  to 
crjry  my  mail  route,'’  he  saia,  "and  an  old  woman  to 
stay  with  my  mother.  Then  I  went  across  the  moun¬ 
tain,  avoiding  the  roads,  to  my  Uncle  Jasper’s  (Jack 
Allen).  I  saw  one  of  his  little  boys,  but  Uncle  Jasper 
was  not  there.  I  don’t  know  where  he  was.” 

‘‘You  went  to  your  Uncle  Jack’s  to  get  a  little  ad¬ 
vice,  didn’t  you?” 

“No,”  replied  the  young  man,  with  a  boyish  laugh ; 
“I  didn’t  think  I  needed  any  advice.  I  just  went  there 
to  try  to  see  what  all  the  boys  were  doing.  While  I 
was  in  the  woodshed  a  man  named  Bolt,  who  runs  a 
mill  down  there,  came  and  talked  with  me.  I  had  only 
a  few  words  with  him,  and  have  not  seen  him  since. 

“I  went  back  home  that  same  evening,  and  before 
midnight  I  struck  right  out  for  the  woods.  I  passed 
the  first  night  after  the  shooting  in  an  old  building 
once  used  as  a  schoolhouse.  One  other  night  later — 
the  night  when  it  was  bitter  cold,  with  rain  and  sleet 
falling — I  slept  in  an  old  tobacco  barn.  All  the  rest  of 
the  time  I  have  slept  in  the  woods  on  the  ground.  On 
the  second  day — that  was  Friday,  March  15 — I  struck 
further  into  the  woods.  Just  by  chance  I  fell  in  with 
Sidna  Edwards,  my  cousin,  a  few  days  later — ^it  might 
have  been  Sunday< — and  he  and  I  were  together  until 
just  before  he  gave  himself  up  and  was  brought  in.” 

“Who  was  it  that  fed  you  and  gave  you  blankets  ?” 

“I  just  don’t  care  to  say,”  replied  Allen,  with  a 
laugh.  “I  don’t  intend  to  get  anybody  into  trouble 
who  has  tried  to  befriend  me.” 


64 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


“Well,  how  did  you  fare  while  you  were  in  the 
woods?” 

Allen  laughed  again.  This  time  it  was  almost  the 
merry  laugh  of  a  big  boy  as  he  answered. 

“Not  quite  so  well  as  I  usually  fared  at  home,  but  I 
don’t  think  I  had  to  go  over  one  meal  time  without 
food.” 

He  refused  to  say  who  brought  his  food,  but  frankly 
admitted  that  he  got  not  only  sustenance,  but  also 
news,  regularly  after  dark,  though  he  had  seen  neither 
a  newspaper  nor  a  copy  of  the  Governor’s  circular  of¬ 
fering  the  reward. 

Deputy  Sheriff  Payne  at  this  point  interpolated  the 
information  that  when  Claude  was  captured  he  had  in 
his  retreat  in  the  laurel  thicket  two  days’  rations  and 
half  a  gallon  of  spring  water  in  a  fruit  jar. 

“I  had  been  in  that  place  three  or  four  days,”  the 
prisoner  went  on.  “I  was  getting  tired  of  it  and  was 
just  thinking  of  giving  up  and  coming  in,  when  T  saw 
that  gentleman  there.” 

Allen  pointed  toward  H.  H.  Lucas  as  he  resumed: 

“I  saw  him  crouching  about  fifteen  feet  away  from 
me  in  the  brush  and  I  saw  the  muzzle  of  his  rifle.  They 
were  right  on  me  before  I  spotted  them,  but  I  could 
have  shot  Mr.  Lucas.  I  had  plenty  of  cartridges.  One 
gun  was  in  my  pocket  and  the  other  in  my  holster,  and 
there  was  time  enough  to  get  them  out.  But  I  had  no 
intention  of  fighting,  so  I  put  up  my  hands  when  he 
ordered  me  to  do  so.” 

Deputy  Sheriff  Payne’s  version  cf  the  arrest  differs 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


65 


slightly  from  Allen’s.  As  the  two  scouts  started  up 
the  hillside  toward  the  laurel  thicket  they  became  sep¬ 
arated  from  each  other  and  had  hidden  in  the  under¬ 
brush.  For  several  moments  Mr.  Payne’s  rifle  was 
bearing  upon  Mr.  Lucas,  whose  stealthy  movements 
Mr.  Payne  mistook  for  those  of  their  common  enemy, 

“Just  then,”  said  Mr.  Payne,  “Lucas  stepped  on  a 
twig  and  it  snapped.  I  saw  Allen  jump  up  quickly  at 
the  sound.  Lucas  was  right  up  to  him  and  had  the 
drop  on  him  the  instant  Allen  stood  erect. 

“  Tut  up  your  hands,’  said  Lucas,  and  I  want  to  add 
that  he  said  it  in  a  mighty  conversational  tone  of  voice. 
The  man  obeyed,  but  Lucas  could  see  only  one  hand 
up. 

“  Tut  up  the  other  one !’  he  cried. 

“They  are  both  up,”  said  Claude,  and  then  we  saw 
that  they  were. 

“That’s  right,”  said  Lucas,  still  in  a  conversational 
tone.  “Now,  that’s  what  I  call  a  man.” 

“Haven’t  you  been  writing  letters  to  your  girl, 
Claude,  since  you  went  away  ?”  Felts  asked. 

Allen  persisted  that  he  had  not  done  so,  but  this  line 
of  questioning  brought  out  an  admission  that  he  is  en¬ 
gaged  to  marry  Miss  Nellie  Wisler,  of  Pulaski,  the  at¬ 
tractive  daughter  of  Walter  Wisler,  formerly  a  school¬ 
teacher  and  justice  of  the  peace,  who  is  now  in  the 
railway  mail  service.  Mr.  Wisler’s  sister  is  the  wife 
of  Victor  Allen,  the  elder  son  of  Floyd  Allen. 

Claude  insisted  that  he  had  not  expected  trouble  in 
court  until  he  saw  his  father  reaching  for  a  v^eapon 


66 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


under  his  sweater.  He  hau  nwer  heard  of  his  father 
wearing  over  his  body  any  kind  of  a  breastplate  or 
bullet-proof  coat. 

After  the  stampede  to  the  street  he  did  not  know 
what  person  had  been  killed  in  the  courtroom,  but  as 
the  fugitives  were  mounting  their  horses  near  the  jail 
and  preparing  to  leave  he  heard  somebody  say  they  had 
killed  Lewis  Webb,  the  Sheriff,  Mr.  Foster  and  the 
Judge. 

“And  you  knew  those  were  the  men  to  be  shot,  did 
you  not?”  asked  Mr.  Felts,  with  his  most  placating 
smile. 

“No,  I  did  not.  I  didn’t  know  anybody  was  to  be 
shot,”  Allen  replied. 

“Now,  Claude,  isn’t  it  a  fact  that  in  case  of  trouble 
there  Mr.  Goad  was  to  be  your  target  and  Judge  Mas- 
sie  was  to  be  your  Uncle  Sidna’s  target?” 

“No ;  I  never  heard  any  talk  at  all  on  that  subject.” 

“Well,  didn’t  you  know  you  had  hit  Mr,  Goad?” 

“I  couldn’t  see  Svhere  I  had  hit  him,  but  I  knew  I 
had  not  killed  him,  for  he  kept  right  on  coming  at  us 
and  shooting,  pretty  good  clear  down  to  the  street,” 

Claude  was  asked  if  he  had  seen  any  members  of  the 
Sheriff’s  posse  before  the  day  of  his  arrest. 

“Oh,  yes!”  said  he.  “I  was  sitting  back  in  the 
woods  one  day  watching  the  road  when  I  saw  five  or 
six  of  them  ride  past,  carrying  rifles.  I  knew  they 
were  a  lot  of  armed  men  looking  for  me,  and  I  had 
heard  that  they  had  all  been  at  our  house  once  or 
twice.” 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


67 


Mr.  Felts  tried  to  elicit  an  admission  that  a  rescue 
of  the  wounded  Floyd  Allen  would  have  been  at- 
tempted  had  not  a  report  been  heard  on  the  telephone 
the  night  of  the  tragedy  that  troops  were  coming  to 
Hillsville.  Claude  Allen  denied  this,  and  coolly  said 
that  the  idea  of  coming  back  to  the  aid  of  his  wounded 
and  captured  father  had  never  been  entertained  by  him 
for  a  moment.  The  inquisitor  contrasted  this  attitude 
with  that  of  the  older  brother,  Victor,  who  refused  to 
leave  his  father  and  shared  his  arrest. 

“Don’t  you  think  you  were  rather  heartless  for  a 
son?”  the  detective  asked. 

“No,  I  don’t  think  so.  If  I  thought  anything  at  all 
about  it,  I  thought  father  would  get  along  as  well 
without  me  as  with  me.” 

Since  he  took  to  the  woods,  Claude  said,  he  had  con¬ 
ferred  with  at  least  eight  or  ten  persons,  but  he  refused 
to  name  any  of  them  except  the  Tolberts  and  Henry 
Easter.  Mr.  Felts  tried  to  force  an  admission  that 
Daniel  Tolbert  was  the  person  with  whom  the  fugitive 
had  talked  most  often,  but  Claude,  refused  to  say  so. 

The  prisoner  was  asked  if  he  was  not  a  pretty  good 
shot  with  a  revolver. 

“Oh,  most  anybody  could  shoot  better  than  me,”  he 
said.  But  he  finally  admitted  that  he  had  often  killed 
rabbits  at  fifteen  paces.  At  the  same  distance,  he  said, 
he  could  generally  place  a  shot  within  two  inches  of  a 
bull’s-eye.  As  to  the  skill  of  his  relatives,  he  said  he 
had  beaten  his  brother  Victor  at  target  practice,  but 
that  Freel,  the  young  son  of  “Jack”  Allen,  captured 


68 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


yesterday,  had  beaten  him  when  they  had  shot  together 
last  Christmas.  He  had  never  seen  his  father,  his 
Uncle  Sidna  Allen  or  his  Uncle  Jack  Allen  shoot  at  a 
target,  he  said,  but  he  thought  they  Were  pretty  good 
shots, 

“What  would  you  call  a  pretty  good  shot  with  a  big 
revolver?’’  was  asked. 

The  big  mountaineer  studied  for  a  moment  like  a 
medical  expert  deliberating  in  court,  then  he  replied : 

“Well,  I  think  to  hit  a  silver  dollar  at  twenty-five 
paces  is  pretty  good  shooting.” 

Among  the  deputy  sheriffs  were  several  crack 
marksmen  and  Sergeant  White,  who  is  a  star  per¬ 
former.  They  all  nodded  approval  and  said  they 
thought  so,  too. 

At  the  close  of  the  conference  E.  C.  Payne  snapped 
the  manacles  upon  Claude’s  wrists,  which  he  held  out, 
docile  as  a  child. ,  Then  the  prisoner  went  back  to  the 
stone-floored  cell,  colder  than  the  bleak:  mountain 
coverts  in  which  he  had  lurked  for  two  weeks. 


District  Attorney  Wm.  M.  Foster,  who 

Allen  outlaws. 


was 


killed  by  the 

6g 


1 

I 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XII 


Friel  Allen,  the  Youngest  o£  the  Outlaws,  Arrested 
Without  Trouble — A  Mere  Boy  in  Appearance, 
Yet  a  Desperate  Man  in  Action — Rounding  Up 
the  Last  of  the  Famous  Gang. 

Friel  Allen,  a  blue-eyed  stripling  of  seventeen, 
youngest  of  the  eight  of  the  Allen  gang,  each  indicted 
for  the  five  murders  in  the  Carroll  County  Courthouse, 
was  taken  March  29th  in  a  carriage  shed  at  the  home 
of  his  father.  Jack  Allen,  eight  miles  from  Hillsville. 
He  cheerfully  submitted  to  arrest  and  now  occupies  a 
cell  in  the  Hillsville  jail  with  his  cousin,  Claude  Swan¬ 
son  Allen,  who  had.  previously  surrendered  without 
resistance  to  the  detectives. 

Only  Sidna  Allen,  a  man  of  middle  age,  and  his 
young  nephew,  Wesley  Edwards,  both  bold  moun¬ 
taineers  of  reckless  daring,  are  now  fugitives.  They 
are  the  last  of  the  outlaw  band  whose  fusilade  killed 
a  judge,  sheriff,  prosecutor,  juror  and  bystander  or, 
March  14. 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


71 


Friel  Allen  a  few  days  ago  deserted  the  two  men 
still  at  large,  and  brought  back  tonight  their  ultima¬ 
tum  of  defiance.  Both  are  prepared  to  resist  until 
death. 

A  father’s  anxiety  to  have  his  youngest  son  spared 
a  terrible  death  in  the  mountains  is  assumed  to  be  the 
cause  of  Friel  Allen’s  capture.  Jack  Allen  was  not 
involved  in  the  Courthouse  shooting,  but  it  is  known 
that  since  his  son  Friel  joined  the  outlaws  he  has  been 
endeavoring  to  advise  him  to  submit  to  the  mercy  of 
the  law.  Just  how  the  parent  communicated  with  the 
boy  has  not  been  disclosed. 

Hillsville  had  hardly  digested  the  excitement  incident 
to  Claude  Allen’s  bloodless  capture  yesterday,  when 
Friel  Allen  galloped  into  town,  the  prisoner  of  Detec¬ 
tive  Thomas  L.  Feltz  and  Detective  E.  C.  Payne,  who 
made  the  arrest. 

The  young  mountaineer  of  slender  build  and  boyish 
face  was  unhandcufTed  and  cantered  into  town  with 
smiles  and  nodded  to  those  who  recognized  him.  He 
showed,  however,  the  ill  effects  of  two  weeks  with 
little  food  or  shelter.  The  young  prisoner  talked  glibly 
of  his  conversations  with  Sidna  Allen  and  Wesley 
Edwards.  The  former,  he  says,  admitted  killing  Judge 
Thornton  L.  Massie,  while  the  latter  acknowledged 
shooting  Commonwealth ’Attorney  William  M.  Foster. 
His  own  part  in  the  tragedy  he  discreetly  evaded  dis¬ 
cussing.  He  brought,  however,  first  hand  informa¬ 
tion  of  the  desperate  straights  of  Sidna  Allen,  leader  of 
the  band,  and  his  consciousness  of  guilt. 


72 


ALLSN  OUTLAWS 


In  the  dialect  of  the  mountain  lie  told  his  story, 
heeding  interruptions  and  answering  all  queries. 

“Uncle  Sidna  told  me/’  related  the  boy  with  unre¬ 
strained  frankness,  “that  he  never  expected  to  see  his 
family  again.  He  hopes. the  detectives  will  get  dis¬ 
couraged  so  that  he  can  get  away,  but  if  they  keep 
after  him,  I  think  he  will  be  sho^  killing  them.  He 
will  never  surrender.  He  didn’t  like  it  when  I  left 
him.  He  told  me  I  was  making  a  mistake,  but  I  was 
tired  and  hungry. 

“Sidna  said  he  shot  his  pistol  empty  three  times.  He 
always  was  angry  with  Judge  Massie.  He  said  he 
shot  Judge  Massie  and  that  Wesley  shot  Mr.  Foster. 
Uncle  Sidna  said  he  intended  to  get  as  many  of  the 
Court  officers  as  he  could.  When  he  was  shooting  the 
people  in  the  street  he  really  did  not  know  he  was 
firing  at  any  of  the  jury.  He  said  he  saw  men  run¬ 
ning  and  thought  they  needed  shooting  at. 

“The  day  after  Uncle  Sidna  and  Cousin  Wesley  and 
I  went  to  the  mountains.  Wesley  had  two  pistols  and 
Uncle  Sidna  had  a  revolver  and  a  shotgun.  We  were 
on  the  ridge  and  were  hidden  under  a  ledge  by  leaves. 
From  there  we  moved  to  another  rock  and  saw  the 
officers  raid  my  Aunt  Alberta’s  house. 

“Some  of  the  detectives  came  within  fifteen  of 
twenty  yards  of  us.  I  wanted  to  leave  but  Uncle  Sidna 
said  if  the  detectives  came  closer  he  would  fire. 

“Uncle  Sidna  was  shot  in  the  arm  at  the  Courthouse 
and  the  same  bullet  went  into  his  side  and  back.  It  is 
still  +^ere.  Uncle  Sidna  got  some  food  in  a  sack.  We 


THE  ALLEN  ©UTLAWS 


73 


had  plenty  of  crackers  and  stayed  in  the  ivy  and  laurel 
bushes  for  ten  days,  but  with  nothing  else  to  cat  ex¬ 
cept  those  crackers.  I  was  just  starved  out-  I  left 
them  on  the  mountain  top.” 


74 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Sidney  Edwards  Captured  Without  Resistance  Near 
His  Home— Locked  Up  in  » Hills ville  Jail  to 
Await  Trial,  He  Repents  of  His  Complicity  in 
the  Courthouse  Massacre  —  Gang’s  Terms  of 
Surrender. 

With  the  capture  of  Sidney  Edwards  near  his  home 
on  March  23rd  was  disclosed  the  terms  of  the  sur¬ 
render  of  the  ^3.ng,  which  terms  the  authorities 
promptly  rejected  and  announced  it  would  be  a  fight 
to  the  death.  Edwards  is  a  nephew  of  the  Allens, 
and  submitted  to  arrest  quietly  after  a  rifle  had  been 
aimed  at  his  head  by  a  detective  and  he  had  been  or¬ 
dered  to  throw  up  his  hands.  He  was  promptly  hand¬ 
cuffed,  disarmed  and  taken  to  Hillsville  jail  and  later 
transferred  to  prison  at  Roanoke,  where  the  other 
outlaws  under  arrest  are  confined. 

He  was  arrested  at  Lambsburg,  near  Low  Gap, 
about  sixteen  miles  from  Hillsville,  by  Legrand  Feltz  ' 
and  W.  W.  Phaup,  of  the  Sheriff’s  armed  posse,  who 
had  been  in  the  mountains  since  Tuesday.  They  came 
upon  him  at  4  o’clock  in  the  morning  asleep  in  an 
empty  hut  a  mile  from  his  home.  When  he  awoke  he 
found  the  detectives  at  his  side.  His  sore  foot  had 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


75 


troubled  him  greatly  and  it  is  believed  he  was  unable 
to  keep  up  with  the  swift  changes  of  base  made  by 
the  other  fugitives. 

News  of  the  capture  of  Sidney  Edwards  was  tele¬ 
phoned  to  Hillsville  from  Galax  at  about  noon  and 
the  town  was  tense  with  expectation  for  an  hour. 

At  10  minutes  past  i  o’clock  watchers  saw  three 
horsemen  galloping  in  a  cloud  of  dust  from  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  Galax.  They  wheeled  into  the  main  street  of 
Hillsville,  dashed  past  the  hotel  and  Courthouse,  and 
then  turned  their  horses  sharply  down  the  alley 
through  which  the  Allen  desperadoes  had  escaped  to 
their  waiting  mounts  after  Courthouse,  battle  of 
March  14. 

Directly  opposite  the  shed  where  the  outlaws  had 
mounted  their  picketed  horses  and  ridden  away,  leav¬ 
ing  Floyd  Allen,  whose  shattered  leg  made  it  impos¬ 
sible  for  him  to  accompany  them,  stands  the  little 
brick  jail.  There  the  trio  of  horsemen  reined  in  their 
steeds.  In  the  middle  of  the  group  rode  H.  H.  Lucas, 
a  member  of  the  Sheriff’s  posse,  who  carried  his  re¬ 
peating  rifle  ready  for  action. 

The  prisoner,  who  is  the  elder  of  the  sons  of  Floyd 
and  Sidna  Allen’s  only  sister,  rode  a  few  paces  ahead 
of  Lucas.  Last  of  all,  the  Hillsville  folks  recognized 
the  sturdy  figure  of  Jack  Allen,  uncle  of  the  prisoner. 
“Jack”  Allen  displayed  no  visible  weapons.  His  pres¬ 
ence  in  the  party  caused  some  surprise,  especially  as 
Lieutenant  Feltz  and  Deputy  Phaup  had  sent  in  their 
prisoner  under  a  single  guard.  “Jack”  Allen  said  he 


76 


TME  ALLEN  .;^UTLAWS 


had  heard  of  his  nephew’s  arrest  and  joined  young 
Edwards  and  his  guard  on  the  road  and  had  accom¬ 
panied  them  here  with  the  consent  and  approval  of 
Deputy  Sheriff  H.  H.  Lucas. 

At  the  jail  door,  which  was  speedily  opened  by  T.  J. 
Burnett,  the  jailer,  the  party  halted  long  enough  to 
oblige  several  photographers  and  two  motion-picture 
operators.  Edwards  appeared  cool  and  perfectly  un¬ 
concerned.  If  he  realized  his  present  plight,  he  gave 
no  indication  of  nervousness.  In  fact,  he  smiled  as 
he  and  his  uncle  and  his  armed  guard  posed  for  their 
pictures.  When  he  noticed  the  motion-picture  oper¬ 
ators  grinding  the  cranks  of  their  machines  with  a 
coffee-mill  movement,  the  youth  said  jocularly;  “We 
are  going  to  have  some  good  coffee  here  pretty  soon.” 

The  interior  of  the  jail  contains  half  a  dozen  small 
cells,  the  tiers  of  which  are  divided  by  a  small  central 
corridor.  When  the  jailer  took  his  prisoner,  Edwards 
asked  to  be  permitted  to  remain  in  the  corridor  instead 
o£  being  put  into  one  of  the  cramped  cells  behind  the 
grated  door.  The  jailer  told  him  he  had  no  authority 
to  grant  such  a  privi^e,  and  Sidna  submitted  without 
further  comment.  No  shackles  had  been  placed  upon 
--  him  either  during  his  *rlde  to  town  or  after  he  was 
placed  in  jail. 

After  being  locked  up  young  Edwards  presented  the 
terms  of  surrender  as  they  had  been  drawn  up  by  the 
Allen  gang  to  the  Sheriff,  but  they  were  refused  as 
being  ridiculous,  even  if  they  did  come  from  the 
Allens,  which  a  great  many  seem  to  doubt,  on  the 


TilE  ALLEN  -OUTLAWS 


77 


theory  that  the  remainder  of  the  gang  will  die  before 
surrendering.  The  alleged  terras  of  surrender  are  as 
follows ;  . 

First  T.he  members  of  the  gang  must  be  guar¬ 
anteed  every  protection  under  the  law. 

Second— The  trials  must  not  be  held  in  Carroll 
County. 

Third  That  pleas  of  guilty  to  second  degree  mur¬ 
der  be  accepted. 

The  terms  were  submitted  to  Detective  W.  G.  Bald¬ 
win,  who  rejected  them.  That  the" band  made  the 
proposition  to  give  up  at  all  is  regarded  as  conclusive 
proof  that  they  are  near  their  last  ditch  and  feel  that 
capture  is  inevitable,  and  that,  in  obedience  of  the 
ruling  family  trait,  they  would  rather  appear  to  be 
yielding  than  to  be  taken  by  force.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  fact  that  they  were  willing  to  make  terms  also  indi¬ 
cates  a  disposition  to  gain  some  concession,  if  possible, 
by  playing  upon  the  supposedly  popular  estimate  of 
their  formidableness 

In  the  presence  of  Detective  Feltz,  Edwards  talked 
freely. 

‘T  know  nothing  of  the  cause  of  the  Courthouse  _ 
shooting,  he  said.  Vv^hen  I  walked  into  the  Court¬ 
room  I  saw  Uncle  Floyd  jump  up  and  say  something. 

I  could  not  hear  what,  it  was.  Right  away  somebody 
began  to  shoot  from  about  Clerk  Goad’s  desk,  but  I  , 
don’t  know  who  fired  the  first  shot.  I  saw  Uncle  Sidna 
after  the  shooting  began.  I  did  not  see  my  cousins  or 
my  brothers.  As  soon  as  I  could  with  my  lame  foot. 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


7^^ 

I  got  out  of  the  Courthouse  and  stood  at  the  bottou- 
of  the  steps.  I  saw  Uncle  Sidna  and  Mr.  Goad  shoot¬ 
ing  at  one  another.  After  it  was  over  I  got  my  moth¬ 
er’s  horse  and  rode  home. 

“Before  I  left  I  saw  Uncle  Floyd  on  a  horse  and 
then  I  saw  him  lying  on  the  ground.  If  he  had  been 
able  to  ride  we  would  have  taken  hirn  away  with  us.  I 
saw  my  brother  Wesley  on  the  road  and  that  after¬ 
noon  I  saw  Uncle  Sidna  at  his  store.  I  have  never 
seen  any  of  them  or  heard  tell  anything  about  ther 
since  that  evening. 

“I  stayed  at  home  until  Sunday  and  had  started  to 
a  neighbor’s  when  I  saw  the  officers.  I  was  in  plain 
view  from  the  road  and  they  could  have  taken  me  then, 
but  I  did  not  go  back  home  because  I  heard  the  officers 
had  orders  to  shoot  all  of  us  in  sight.  I  went  about 
and  lived  the  best  I  could  until  the  officers  ran  upon 
me  last  night.  I  did  not  have  a  pistol  at  the  Court¬ 
house  or  while  I  was  trying  to  keep  from  being  ar¬ 
rested.” 


S'HE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XIV 

Jack  Allen,  of  the  Famous  Family,  But  Not  the 
Gang,  Visits  Hillsville  and  Attracts  Much  At¬ 
tention — He  Regrets  the  Whole  Affair  and 
Sheds  Tears  of  Sorrow — His  Version  of  the 
Tragic  Affair. 

The  entry  of  Jack  Allen,  one  of  the  Allen  clan,  into 
Hillsville  created  wild  excitement,  especially  among 
the  women.  With  tears  in  his  eyes  he  asked  the  people 
to  tell  the  world  that  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
awful  Courthouse  tragedy,  that  he  deplores  it,  and 
has  not  aided  or  abetted  the  fugitives  in  making  their 
escape. 

When  Jack  Allen,  astride  a  horse  by  the  side  of  Lee 
Feltz,  the  detective,  came  into  town  women  on  porches 
of  houses  facing  the  street  fled  indoors  almost  panic- 
stricken.  Some  of  them  feared  that  Jack  Allen  would 
shoot  up  the  town.  Allen,  however,  rode  calmly  along, 
tipping  his  hat  to  the  women  and  waving  his  hands  to 
the  men  he  knew.  A  few  minutes  later  Mrs.  Sidna 
Allen  and  Rev.  Garland  Allen  followed. 

Jack  Allen  is  a  thick-set  man,  strongly  built  and  is 
about  5  feet  lo  inches  tall.  'He  has  a  cold,  gray  eye. 
His  mouth  and  chin  arc  firm  and  strong.  When  smil- 


8o 


THE  ALLEjN'  outlaws 


ing  his  iace  is  pleasant.  His  manner  is  affable  and  he 
does  not  hesitate  to  talk’  freely.  His  speech  retains 
the  accent  peculiar  to  the  mountain  section  of  Vir¬ 
ginia. 

“Say  for  me  that  I  didn’t  help  my  brother,  son  or 
nephew  get  away,”  declared  “Jack”  when  pressed  for 
a  statement.  “I  was  in  Hillsville  the  day  before  the 
shooting,  but  was  home  sick  in  bed  when  the  tragedy 
occurred,” 

“I  am  so  vSorry  this  thing  happened  I  don’t  know 
what  to  do,”  continued  the  mountaineer,  as  his  eyes 
filled  with  tears.  “Ever  since  this  thing  happened  I 
have  been  half  crazy.  I  haven’t  slept  much  since  and 
haven’t  eaten  much.  I  am  not  the  bad  man  I  used  to 
be.  I  am  now  trying  to  do  better.  I  don’t  believe 
that  my  brothers  arranged  this  shooting  before  it  hap¬ 
pened.  It  all  occurred  right  on  the  jump.  I  think 
when  Floyd  Allen  jumped  up  in,  the  Courtroom  and 
said  he  wouldn’t  stand  for  it,  some  of  the  Court  people 
started  the  shooting.  Then  his  relatives  in  the  Court- 
room^began  shooting.  I  don’t  think  they  intended  to 
shoot  Judge  Massie.” 

“Jack”  says  his  son  Friel  and  the  Edwards  boys 
visited  his  house  after  the  tragedy  Thursday  evening^ 
They  told  him  that  the  Court  officials  started  to  shoot 
Floyd  and  that  then  they  began  shooting.  “Jack”  says 
the  fugitives  left  his  house  on  foot,  and  he  has  not 
seen  or  heard  anything  of  them  since  Thursday  even¬ 
ing;  that  he  has  not  communicated  with  them  and 
■does  not  intend  to  do  so.  Then  “Jack”  spoke  of  the 


THE  -allejn;  outlaws  8l 

grief  of  the  women  members  of  the  Allen  family  and 
again  his  eyes  became  moist. 

“Jack”  says  that  the  Allens  were  being  persecuted 
by  the  Court  officials  because  they  were  political  oppo¬ 
nents  of  the  present  Carroll  County  officers  and  tried 
to  beat  them  in  the  election. 

“I  have  never  killed  a  man,”  said  “Jack.”  “The 
only  Allen  who  had  before  this  Court  tragedy  occurred 
was  Floyd,  who  shot  a  nigger.  All  the  crimes  which 
have  been  committed  in  this  section  have  been  charged 
to  us.” 

“Jack”  went  to  the  Thornton  Hotel,  where  Juror 
Kane  lies  seriously  wounded.  The  two  men  shook 
hands  and  then  conversed  for  ten  minutes. 

“You  don’t  know  how  sorry  I  am  about  all-  this 
business,”  “Jack”  told  the  wounded  man.  “Had  I  been 
there  I  might  have  been  able  to  hold  down  my  brothers, 
my  nephew  and  the  others.  They  didn’t  mean  to  shoot 
you ;  of  that  I  am  sure.” 

Followed  by  a  number  of  the  curious,  “Jack”  en¬ 
tered  the  Courtroom.  He  put  his  fingers  in  holes 
from  which  curio  hunters  had  cut  the  bullets.  He 
gazed  at  the  walls,  punctured  in  many  places,  and  ex¬ 
amined  the  blood-stained  chair  in  which  Judge  Massie 
sat.  An  eyewitness  explained  to  him  how  bullet  holes 
cam.e  to  be  in  one  of  the  columns  in  front  of  the 
Courthouse,  behind  which  Sidna  Allen  stood  when  he 
emptied  a  pistol  at  Clerk  Dexter  Goad. 

Reluctant  at  first  to  pose,  because  he  was  wearing 
his  “everyday”  clothes,  “Jack”  finally  consented  to 


82 


THE  AIXEN  OUTLAW^* 


Stand  in  front  of  the  Courthouse  while  a  moving-pic¬ 
ture  operator  wound  off  several  yards  of  films.  Like 
everybody  else  in  Hillsville,  he  was  registered  in  the 
camera  and  stood  an  attentive  listener  while  the  oper- 
ator  told  the  crowd  how  the  machine  was  worked. 


Sheriff  Lewis  F.  Webb,  one  of  the  victims 
of  the  outlaw  gang. 


83 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


% 


CHAPTER  XV 

On  the  Trail  of  Sidna  Allen— Detective  Feltz  Tells 
of  the  Chase  After  the  Fleeing  Outlaw — Held 
Up  by  a  Mountaineer,  But  Allov^ed  to  Escape. 

Near  Mount  Airy,  N.  C.,  March'  31,  Sidna  Allen, 
one  of  the  ringleaders  of  the  outlaw  gang,  was  sighted 
by  a  mountaineer  named  Lafayette  Ayres.  Allen  cov¬ 
ered  Ayres  with  a  shotgun  and  declared  that  he  would 
shoot  him.  Then  Ayres  begged  for  his  life  and  denied 
any  participation  in  the  hunt.  Allen  lowered  his  gun 
and  pursued  his  w^ay  into  the  mountains^ 

The  hold-up  occurred  near  the  Buzzard’s  Rock  sec¬ 
tion  wLere,  under  a  sheltered  rock,  Allen  is  supposed 
to  have  slept  that  night.  Ayres  has  been  furnishing 
information  to  the  detectives  who  are  searching  for 
the  outlaws. 

Having  pressed  Sidna  Allen  so  hard  that  he  was 
driven  from  his  latest  refuge  and  fled  precipitately 
down  the  mountainside,  his  pursuers  are  now  prepar¬ 
ing  to  follow  his  trail  with  bloodhounds.  Allen  and 
his  nephew,  Wesley  Edwards,  were  the  only  two  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  gang  still  at  large  March  31. 

The  leader  of  the  Allen  clan  of  desperadoes  nar- 


TKE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


85 


rowly  escaped^  capture.  As  stated,  members  of  the 
posse  found  his  abandoned  blankets  and  remnants  of 
his  dinner. 

f  W  hen  Captain  Feltz  rode  out  from  here  at  midnig’ht, 
accompanied  by  Albert  Baldwin,  E.  C.  Payne  and 
John  Faddis,  they  were  on  what  looked  like  a  hot  trail. 
An  hour  eailier  Fred  Weddell,  a  farmer  living'  about 
thirteen  miles  southeast  of  here,  near  the  mountain 
top,  on  the  Snake  Creek  road,  came  riding  into  Hills- 
ville,  having  telephoned  his  approach  to  Spencer 
Fulcher,  a  Hillsville  Jriend.  Weddell  reported  that  at 
dusk  Friday  he  had  seen  tw'O  men  whom  he  had  rec¬ 
ognized  as  Sidna  Allen  and  Wesley  Edwards,  running 
out  of  his  barn.  They  had  plunged  into  the  timber 
and  laurel  thicket,  heading  for  a  great  cliff  of  granite 
known  as  Buzzards  Roost,”  high  on  the  mountain 
side.  This  is  in  the  Ward’s  Gap  country. 

Captain  Feltz  told  the  story  of  the  hunt  on  his  t-e- 
turn. 

We  hoped  to  find  Allen  and  Edwards  near  the 
home  of  Wilbur  Easter,  who  is  the  husband  of  SMna 
Allen’s  niece,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Edward’s,”  said  Captain 
Feltz.  Easter  s  house  is  about  half  way  between  the 
Fancy  Gap  and  Piper’s  Gap.  We  went  there  first,  be¬ 
fore  going  on  to  test  the  report  brought  in  by  Waddell. 

On  arrival  there  we  threw  a  picket  line  extending 
several  miles  around  what  is  called  the  flatwoods  coun¬ 
try.  It  is  a  section  dense  with  laurel,  mountain  ivy  and 
green  briar.  At  daybreak  yesterday  a  party  of  six  of 
UP  went  in  to  raid  and  search  several  houses  including 


86 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


those  of  the  Easters,  crawling  stealthily  on  our  hands 
and  knees  through  the  undergrowth, 

“About  300  or  400  yards  from  Easter’s  house  we 
came  upon  the  imprint  of  the  blankets  where  Sidna 
and  Wesley  had  slept  Thursday  night.  We  saw  also 
the  footprints  and  the  trail  made  by  Easter  in  going  to 
and  from  his  house,  carrying  food  to  them.  It  was 
clear  that  Easter  had  made  at  least  three  different  trips 
from  his  house  to  their  lair.  We  brought  diim  out  and 
fitted  his  boots  to  the  footprints  in  the  softened  soil. 
They  matched  perfectly,  even  to  a  patch  on  one  sole. 
Easter  admitted  they  were  his  marks,  but  he  stoutly 
denied  all  knowledge  of  the  fugitives.  He  said  he 
reckoned' he  must  have  been  just  walking  about  in  the 
woods. 

“Close  by  the  imprint  of  Sidna’s  bedding  lay  a  leaf 
torn  from  a  pocket  notebook.  On  this  was  the  receipt 
to  Edward’s  written  in  lead  pencil. 

Mr.  Feltz  here  produced  a  paper  which  had  been 
folded  twice  and  which  had  evidently  been  exposed  to 
the  moisture  of  the  mountain  dew.  But  on  it  this  writ¬ 
ing  was  clearly  legible; 

“Received  of  W.  W.  Easter  $70,  to  be  credited  to 
his  note  which  I  hold  against  him.  Paid  away  from 
home.  Sidna  Allen.” 

In  two  places,  one  above  and  the  other  below  the  re¬ 
ceipt,  as  though  to  emphasize  it,  had  been  written  the 
date  “February,  1912.”  Mr.  Feltz  has  no  doubt  Sidna 
dated  the  receipt  thus  as  a  blind,  in  the  event  of  it  be¬ 
ing  picked  up  by  persons  other  than  Easter.  Hi?  the- 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


87 


ory  is  that  Sidna,  on  receiving  the  cash,  promised  to 
write  a  receipt  and  leave  it  at  his  abandoned  camp. 
Easter  had  made  several  trips  there  trying  to  find  it, 
but  it  happened  that  the  pursuers  found  it  first. 

Resuming  his  narrative,.  Captain  Feltz  said : 

“We  would  have  arrested  Easter,  but  his  young 
wife’s  health  is  in  a  precarious  condition  and  he  had 
nobody  to  leave  with  her.  We  can  get  him  when  we 
want  him.” 

“We  searched  and  raided  about  this  vicinity  until 
about  noon.  Then  we  struck  out  on  the  other  clew, 
doubling  back  across  the  Fancy  Gap  road  and  along  the 
foot  of  the  mountain  to  the  Ward’s  Gap  road.  We 
followed  it  along  to  a  point  between  Ward’s  and  Wills’ 
Gap,  not  far  from  the  Weddell  place  and  the  cliff  called 
Buzzards’  Roost. 

“Sending  our  horses  to  the  top  of  the  mountain  in 
charge  of  part  of  the  posse,  a  detail  of  six  of  us  walked 
to  the  mountain  top  and  approached  Buzzards’  Roost, 
raiding  and  searching  several  houses  on  our  way. 

“At  Buzzards’  Roost,  beneath  one  of  the  shelving 
rocks,  we  found  the  warm  nest  which  Sidna  Allen, 
from  unmistakable  signs,  had  occupied  on  Friday  night, 
and  which  he  had  abandoned  not  two  hours  before  our 
arrival.  He  had  evidently  gone  away  in  a  hurry,  leav¬ 
ing  his  quilts  stretched  upon  the  bed  of  dry  leaves  un¬ 
der  the  shelf  rock.  There,  too,  we  found  a  lot  of  re- 
cnetly  baked  bread  and  biscuits  wrapped  in  pieces  of 
newspaper.  Until  then  we  think  Edwards  was  with 
him. 


THE  ALL»N  OUTLAWS 


88 

“It  looked  as  though  <)ur  approach  had  frightened 
our  men  out  We  traced  Sidna’s  tracks  as  he  plunged 
right  down  the  mountainside,  taking  the  steep  inclines 
in  long  leaps  like  a  deer.  The  footprints  were  clearly 
Sidna  Allen’s,  for  we  have  shoes  of  his  with  which  to 
compare  them.  There  were  no  visible  evidences  of  the 
ecape  here  of  more  than  one  man,  and  it  looks  as 
though  Wesley  Edwards  may  have  separated  from  his 
Uncle  Sidna  yesterday  when  we  flushed  their  covert. 

“I  have  left  an  able  posse  of  men  right  in  that  neigh¬ 
borhood,  divided  into  two  main  Squads.  These  are 
commanded  by  W.  W.  Phaup  and  E.  C.  Payne,  two 
of  our  most  competent  men.  They  were  to  resume, 
beating  through  the  woods  at  dawn  today.  With  them 
are  Deputies  Lucas,  Braham,  Mundy,  Cunningham, 
Franklin  and  others.” 

After  a  few  hours’  sleep  here  Captain  Feltz,  at¬ 
tended  by  John  Faddis,  his  brother-in-law,  started  to 
visit  his  home  at  Belair.  He  intended  to  be  back  in  the 
mountains  with  his  men,  however,  at  night. 

In  their  scouring  of  the  mountains  the  detectives 
from  time  to  time  came  '  across  tracks  which 
at  first  bewildered  them.  They  would  be  pur¬ 
suing  the  two  clansmen  in  one  direction  and  would 
frequently  come  across  footprints  leading  in^-another 
direction.  They  have  come  to  the  conclusion  now  that 
the  second  tracks  were  made  by  tw’o  men  who  have- 
been  known  to  have -been  dodging  in  the  wilderness  for 
several  months.  One  is  a  moonshiner  and  the  other 
a  murderer.  Both  are  from  North  Carolina. 


Tail  ALLEiS  OUTLAWS 


8^ 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Capture  of  Bill  Allen,  Son  of  Floyd  Allen,  Near 
His  Home— Did  Not  Put  Up  Expected  Resist¬ 
ance  and  Quietly  Surrendered. 

On  Thursday,  March  28th,  after  long  and  patient 
waiting  on  the  part  of  the  posse,  Bill  Allen,  another 
of  the  Allen  gang,  was  captured  in  his  mountain 
retreat  near  his  home.  H.  H.  Lucas  and  Edward 
Payne,  members  of  the  Sheriff’s  posse,  were  patroling 
at  about  2.30  o’clock  this  afternoon  the  Mount  Airy 
road  which  leads  through  Fancy  Gap.  They  v/ere  at 
a  point  some  three,  miles  soiffheast  from  , Floyd  Allen’s 
home.  The  two  deputies  had  picketed  their  horses  on 
the  road  and  after  dismounting  Tiad  started  up  the 
mountain  slope  toward  a  dense  thicket  of  laurel. 

Lucas  and  Payne  at  the  moment  were  advancing 
slowly  through  the  thick  underbrush  and  were  about 
thirty  yards  apart  when  Lucas  saw,  in  the  edge  of  the 
laurel  patch,  a  movement  and  the  flash  of  something 
white.  Crouching  on  one  knee,  he  brought  his  Wni- 
chester  to  his  shoulder  and  shouted  ‘‘hands  up !” 

The  worn  and  haggard  figure  of  a  man  stepped  back 
from  the  covering  of  the  laurel.  He  had  instantly 
obeyed  the  command  and  was  rigid  as  a  statue.  In 
each  of  his  uplifted  hands  he  clutched  a  heavy  rc:- 


90 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


volver,  but  he  held  the  weapons  above  his  head  ia 
token  of  surrender. 

Lucas  advanced  up  the  slope  toward .  him,  holding 
his  rifle  ready  for  action.  At  the  first  cry,  Payne  had 
come  to  his  comrade’s  aid.  The  fugitive’s  first  word 
was:  ,,  ■ 

‘T  give  in  and  I’m  glad  to  quit,” 

The  scouts  had  immediately  recognized  their  pris¬ 
oner  and  after  they  had  disarmed  him  he  showed  them 
his  mountain  retreat,  where  he  had  been  lurking  for 
several  days.  He  was  well  supplied  with  bread  and 
also  had  a  cask  of  water,  partly  filled,  neatly  concealed 
in  the  heart  of  a  laurel  patch. 

As  the  fugitive  had  no  horse,  one  of  his  captor: 
rode  to  his  father’s  home  to  procure  one,  while  the 
other  scout  kept  guard  over  the  prisoner.  Bill 
mounted  easily  despite  his  evident  fatigue  and  exhaus¬ 
tion  from  two  weeks’  vigilance  in  the  mountains.  With 
his  guard  on  either  side,  their  rifles  resting  across  the 
pommel  of  their  saddle,  the  little  party  began  its  march 
toward  Bill  Allen’s  captivity  and  probable  death. 

The  most  pathetic  scene  in  that  tragic  journey 
occurred  as  he  neared  his  own  home.  The  road  to 
prison  led  directly  past  his  mother’s  door.  The  heart¬ 
broken  woman  was  there  wringing  her  hands  and 
ready  to  fall  upon  the  neck  of  her  captive  son. 

He  was  permitted  to  dismount  for  a  few  mo¬ 
ments  and  the  meeting  between  mother  and  son,  to 
end  only  a  few  moments  later  in  bitter  parting,  was 
heart  r<^"iding.  The  youth’s  mother  wept  and  sobbed 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


91 

and  fo_ndly  called  him  her  baby  boy.  The  lad  bore  up 
bravely  and  did  what  little  he  might  to  try  to  comfort 
her. 

In  reply  to  questions  young  Allen  said; 

‘T  have  been  in  the  mountains  alone  for  several  days 
and  during  that  time  have  not  seen  or  heard  from  any 
of  the  others:  I  was  in  my.  hiding  place  today  and  was 
watching  the  road.  I  saw  Mr.  Lucas  before  he  saw 
me,  and  I  could  easily  have  shot  him.  But  I  was  ex¬ 
cited,  worn  out,  and  tired  of  the  game.  I  hesitated  as 
I  was  about  to  raise  one  of  my  guns,  and  then  the 
thought  came  to  me  that  I  did  not  want  to  hurt  any¬ 
body  else.  I  started  to  crawl  stealthily  back  into  the 
laurel  when  I  saw  that  Mr.  Lucas  had  seen  or  heard 
me.  He  had  his  rifle  leveled  at  me  like  a  flash  and  I 
saw  it  "would  be  foolish  to  resist. 

“I  am  really  glad  to  have  a  chance  to  come  in.  I 
have  not  slept  on  a  bed  for  two  weeks.  I  have  been 
soaked  to  the  skin  and  half  frozen  by  rain  and  sleet, 
and  have  not  known  a  shelter.” 


I 

■f 


P2  THE  ALLEN  OUTLAV/I 

-s. 


CHAPTER  XVIL 

Story  of  an  Eye-Witness  to  the  Crime,  Who  barely 
Escaped  With  His  Life  When  the  Battle  Com¬ 
menced — Believes  Each  Bandit  Had  His  Man 
Picked  Out  and  Shot  at  a  Preconcerted  Signal. 
Thrilling  Story  of  the  Outrage. 

Perhaps  the  clearest  and  most  connected,  also  the 
most  positive  account  of  the  assassinations  in  the 
courtroom  at  Hillsville,  was  given  by  Attorney  B. 
F.  Calaway,  who  witnessed  the  shooting.  He  said  : 

“Court  met  at  8  o’clock  and  the  courtroom  was 
rapidly  filling.  The  jury  was  in  the  anteroom  for¬ 
mulating  a  verdict  against  Floyd  Allen,  charged 
with  interfering  with  an  officer  who  had  under  ar¬ 
rest  the  two  Edwards  boys,  his  nephews,  when  Al¬ 
len  and  several  of  his  kinsmen  came  in.  The  jury 
came  out  and  Clerk  of  the  Court  Goad  announced 
that  a  verdict  of  guilty  with  a  recommendation  for 
a  year  in  prison  had  been  signed  by  the  jury.  W.  S. 
Tipton,  attorney  for  Allen,  made  a  motion  to  set 
aside  the  verdict.  He  announced  that  he  woul^ 
argue  the  point  the  following  morning  and  file  affi¬ 
davit  in  addition.  He  asked  that  the  defendant  big 
permitted  to  give  bond  until  morning. 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


93 


Jiidg’c  Massie  S3.id  he  had  no  right  to  accept  bond 
after  a  defendant  had  been  convicted,  and  ordered 
the  Sheriff  to  take  charge  of  Allen.  Allen  rose  from 
his  seat  near  his  attorney,  at  the  back  railing  of  the 
bar,  and  announced  that  he  would  not  submit  to 
being  in  prison.  ‘I  swear  that  I  will  not  go  to  iail  ’ 
he  said.  : 

“Allen  was  then  out  on  bond.  He  had  never  been 
taken  in  custody  to  avoid  trouble  with  him.  The 
officers  had  permitted  him  to  go  and  come  at  will, 
his  word  having  been  his  bond.  He  had  boasted 
again  and  again  that  he  would  not  go  to  prison  or 
see  any  other  member  of  his  family  go  if  he  could 
prevent  it. 

“1  saw  Allen’s  face  when  he  said  he  would  not  go 
with  the  Sheriff,  and  I  backed  out  of  the  co  .rtroom, 
for  I  realized  that  something  was  going  to  happen. 
The  declaration  of  Floyd  Allen  seems  to  have  been 
the  signal  for  the  Allen  kinsmen  and  friends  to  start 
the  fight. 

“Nobody  knows  for  certain,  but  the  supposition 
is  that  Sidna  Allen,  a  brother  of  Floyd,  fired  the 
first  shot,  and  it  struck  Judge  Massie,  who  sat 
facing  the  attorneys,  the  defendant  and  the  hun¬ 
dreds  of  spectators,  among  them  being  associates  of 
Floyd  Allen.  Judge  Massie,  just  before  he  died, 
said  that  Sidna  Allen  had  shot  him. 

“Floyd  Allen  shot  Sheriff  Webb  and  Claude  Al¬ 
len  Commonwealth’s  Attorney  Foster.  Sidney  Ed¬ 
wards,  a  nephew  of  Floyd  Allen,  shot  Clerk  of 


94 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


Court  Goad.  Between  75  and  100  shots  were  fired. 
Massie,  Webb  and  Foster  fell  to  the  floor  and  died 
there;  Mr.  Goad  was  shot  through  the  face  and 
neck.  He  followed  the  Allens  to  the  courtyard, 
shooting  as  he  went.  Two  of  his  shots  struck  Sidna 
Allen. 

“The  Allens  fired  a  volley  after  leaving  the  build¬ 
ing.  Each  member  of  the  party  had  evidently 
picked  his  man,  and,  at  the  signal  to  fire,  shot.  The 
Allens  used  automatic  guns,  loaded  with  steel-jack¬ 
eted  bullets.  Sheriff  Webb,  Mr.  Foster  and  Mr. 
Goad  had  guns.  Judge  Massie 'was  shot  twice, 
Sheriff  Webb-  several  times  and  Mr.  Foster  six 
times.  Mr.  Goad  was  shot  three  times,  but  will  re¬ 
cover. 

.  “After  the  Allens  had  killed  or  wounded  the  court 
officers  they  turned  on  the  jurors,  who  by  this  time 
were  scrambling  to  get  away.  Cain  and  Fowler 
were  the  only  ones  who  did  not  escape.  They  are 
dangerously  wounded.  Two  onlookers  were  slightly 
wounded. 

“The  Allens  went  to  a  nearby  livery  stable  for 
their  horses.  Floyd  Allen,  who  had  been  shot  twice, 
fell  as  he  entered  the  stable.  His  brother  and  son 
tried  to  put  him  on  a  horse,  but  he  was  too  weak  to 
ride,  and  they  left  him.  The  other  three  desperadoes 
started  for  the  country.  Floyd  was  carried  to  Hall’s 
Hotel,  where  he  remained  until  arrested  and  taken 
Co  Tail.  Later  in  the  day  Jack  Allen,  another  broth- 


tlTE  ALLEN  0¥TLAWS  9^ 

er  of  Floyd,  came  to  town,  saw  his  brother  for  a 
moment  and  went  back  to  the  mountains. 

There  were  two  or  three  women  in  the  court¬ 
house  when  the  shooting  occurred.  Mrs.  Alverta 
Edwards,  mother  of  Sidney  Edwards,  was  one  of 
them.  As  she  passed  out  of  the  building  she  picked 
up  a  rock  and  said :  T  will  kill  some  of  the  rascals.’ 

“The  Allens  belong  to  an  old  Carroll  county  fam¬ 
ily.  Floyd  Allen  owns  property  worth  about  $10,- 
000.  Sidna  Allen  is  worth  not  less  than  $20,000.” 


T*S  ALLlijS  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Sidna  Allen’s  Farewell  to  His  Wife — Will  Never 
Come  Back  Alive,  He  Predicts — She  Bids  Him 
a  Tearful  Good-Bye,  and  Says  He  Was  a  Good 
and  Loving  Husband,  His  Only  Fault  Being 
an  Ungovernable  Temper. 

Sidna  Allen,  the  mountain  desperado,  bade  his 
wife  a  pathetic  farewell.  When  taking  leave  of  his 
wife,  when  the  latter  left  her  own  home  for  that,  of 
a  neighbor,  Sidna  Allen,  pointing  to  a  hill  overlooking 
his  hpme,  is  quoted  as  having  said: 

“Bury  me  there.  I  am  as  good  as  dead  now.  If  I 
am  caught  I  will  be  executed;  if,  I  resist  they  will 
shoot  me.  I  shall  not  see  you  again.  Good-bye.” 

Mrs.  Allen  tearfully  confirmed  this  version  of  her 
husband’s  farewell.  Sidna,  she  said,  had  told  her  to 
take  good  care  of  their  two  young  daughters  and  do 
everything  she  could  for  them. 

Mrs.  Allen  blames  Floyd  Allen  for  all  ol  -  their 
troubles,  and  hat-es  him  accordingly. 

•  ‘T  have  no  idea  where  Sidna  went  when  he  left 
me.  I  wish  .there  never  had  been  a  gun  made.  I 
left  our  home  the  night  this  awful  thing  happened 
and  my  husband  ,was>Jstill,  there.’  As  I  kissed  him 


Floyd  Allen,  who  is  supposed  to  have  killed  Judge  Massie  after'  he  sentenced  him.  Allen  is  wounded 
and  is  o«  a  cot  in  Jail,  guarded  by  Detectives  Baldwin  and  Feltz. 


TBLS  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


good-bye  he  told  me  to  do  everything  I  could  for 
our  two  little  children  and  be  kind  to  his  dog  and 
cat. 

“I  do  not  know  if  he  is  lying  exposed  with  his 
wounds,  perhaps  starving  to  death.  Regardless  of 
what  he  did  in  the  County  Court,  I  want  to  say  that 
there  never  was  a  kinder  or  more  loving  husband 
and  father.  He  has  an  awful  temper.  That  was  re¬ 
sponsible  for  whatever  he  did.” 

The  Allens  have  two.  pretty  children,  both  girls. 
Marguerite,  aged  10,  and  Pauline,  aged  5. 

‘T  do  not  believe  Sid  plotted  to  shoot  the  courlS 
officers,”  continued  Mrs.  Allen.  ‘Tf  I  knew  where  he 
was  I  would  go  to  him  and  nurse  him.  He  is  a  good 
man,  with  many  virtues,  and  one  fault,  his  ungov¬ 
ernable  temper,  which  makes  him  a  wild  man  when 
he  is  aroused.” 

Mrs.  Allen  inquired  about  the  condition  of  Floyd 
Allen,  now  in  jail  at  Roanoke.  When  told  he  was 
improving,  she  remarked: 

“Too  bad  he  didn’t  die,  don’t  you  think?” 


TliS  ALLBN  OUTLAWS 


99 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Some  Traits  of  the  Mountaineers  That  Are  Inter¬ 
esting — Many  of  Them  Profess  Religion  and 
Distil  Illicit  Whiskey  at  the  Same  Time — Bible 
and  the  Rifle  Go  Together,  as  in  the  Old  Puri¬ 
tan  Days — Queer  Mixtures  of  Vice  and  Virtue. 

To  be  an  outlaw  and  to  defy  the  laws  of  man  is 
as  natural  to  a  Virginia  mountaineer  as  is  water  to 
a  young  duck,  yet  to  revile  the  Almighty  or  do  any¬ 
thing  pertaining  to  unbelief  or’  blasphemy  is  as 
something  unheard  of  among  the  mountaineers, 
who  are  nearly  all  church  members  and  members 
of  some  Christian  denornination.  They  believe  in  ■ 
God  and  another  world,  but  they  hate  the  govern¬ 
ment,  which  they  consider  oppresses  them  with  rev¬ 
enue  laws,  and  they  believ'e  that  God-given  freedom 
is  theirs  now  and  forever. 

When  the  Federal  officers  start  into  the  moun- 
^tains  on  the  search  for  illicit  stills  the  factional  hos¬ 
tilities  are  suspended  for  the  time  being,  either  for 
the  purpose  of  concealment  or  active  opposition. 

Regardless  of  feud  fights,  wars  against  the  “rev¬ 
enues”  and  the  distilling  of  moonshine  whiskey,  re¬ 
ligion  flourishes  in  the  mountains — religion  of  the 


lOO 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


shouting,  mourner’s-bench  sort,  that  appeals  to  the 
primitive  minds  of  the  congregations.  And,  incon¬ 
gruous  as  it  may  seem,  the  pillars  in  the  church,  lay¬ 
men,  deacons,  preachers  eyen,  are  directly  and  per¬ 
sonally  interested  in  the  traffic  in  liquor.  To  run  a 
blockade  still  is  the  proper  and  accepted  thing  to 
do,  and  the  only  social  and  religious  outcast  is  the 
weakling  who  is  so  craven  as  to  pay  his  tax  when 
he  should  smuggle  his  goods  to  market. 

The  mountaineers  are  almost  entirely  Methodists 
or  Baptists,  and  the  only  Baptists  in  the  mountain 
section  are  of  the  “hard-shell’  or  “foot-washing” 
sort.  This  sect  has  almost  disappeared  from  all 
other  parts  of  the  country  except  from  among  the 
negroes.  The  ceremony  of  “foot-washing”  is  ob¬ 
served  regularly,  and  often  in  conjunction  with  the 
other  rites  of  the  church.  The  deacons  wash  the  feet 
of  the  preacher,  who  in  turn  washes  the  feet  of  the 
deacons.  The  lay  members  are  allowed  to  minister 
to  each  other,  the  men  and  women  sitting  apart  on 
opposite  sides  of  the  church  edifice  during  the  cere¬ 
mony. 

Of  recent  years  new  causes  of  trouble  are  appear¬ 
ing  in  the  moonshine  district.  Northern  capitalists 
are  buying  up  timber  tracts  and  seeking  to  evict  the 
squatters  from  the  trout  streams  and  the  hunting 
grounds  that  they  consider  theirs.  The  forest  re¬ 
serve  agitation  has  aroused  the  spirit  of  the  moun¬ 
tain  folks  for  the  same  reason.  The  trespassers  and 
interlopers  from  the  outside  world  are  breaking  into 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


lO'l 

tne  squatter’s  paradise,  and  the  fear  of  the  rifle  ball 
fails  to  stop  them,  although  now  and  again  a  lum¬ 
berman  or  a  surveyor  is  the  victim  of  a  potshot  from 
some  hunter  who  is  never  found. 

Considering  the  enduring  prejudices  of  the  moun¬ 
taineers,  the  talk  of  educating  them  is  a  staggerer. 
They  hated  the  negroes  in  slavery  days,  and  that 
hatred  is  still  so  intense  that  they  will  drive  out  anv 
blacks  who  attempt  to  settle  among  them.  They 
became  Republicans  in  ante-bellum  days  because 
the  Republican  party  stood  for  abolition,  and  Re¬ 
publicans  the  mountaineers  remain  today,  although 
that  party  is  responsible  for  the  whiskey  tax,  which 
they  evade.  The  indications  are  that  there  will  be 
more  trouble,  much  of  it,  ere  the  moonshine  stills 
cease  to  smoke  in  the  Blue  Ridge  and  their  ope¬ 
rators  are  assimilated  into  the  new  order  of  things. 


102 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XX. 

The  Allens  Are  Not  Common  Criminals,  and  Their 

Homes  Would  Indicate  Them  to  Be  of  Higher 
Intellect  Than  They  Really  Are — Refined  Sur¬ 
roundings,  Loving  Wives  and  Good  Children 
Seem  to  Have  but  Little  Effect  on  Them  When 
They  Consider  Their  Supposed  Rights. 

Despite  their  desperate  conduct  and  handiness 
with  the  rifle  and  revolver,  the  Allens  are  by  no  means 
commonplace  criminals,  and  it  is  surprising  that, 
having  lived  so  well  and  among  such  refined  sur¬ 
roundings,  they  have  not  undergone  a  great  moral 
improvement. 

The  region  around  Hillsville  will  be  a  new  one 
when  the  Allens  and  their  gang  are  exterminated 
and  a  people  who  in  general  are  as  peaceable  as  that 
of  any  farming  community  in  the  land  wdll  be  freed 
from  an  odium  that  should  not  attach  to  them. 

The  Allens  are  not  ordinary  desperadoes.  They 
have  not  murdered  for  loot;  farmers,  most  of  them, 
they  are  among  the  wealthiest  men  of  the  region. 
They  own  hundreds  of  acres  of  land.  They  have 
sent  their  children  to  college;  one  of  them  is  a  Prim¬ 
itive  Baptist  preacher.  All,  in  fact,  are  primitive. 


T«1  ALLlSf  OUTLAWS 


1^3 

or,  as  others  call  them,  “hard-shell”  Baptists.  When 
the  meetings  known  as  ‘Baptist  associations’  have 
been  held  in  their  neighborhood,  bringing  together 
persons  from  scores  of  miles  around,  Mr.  Floyd  Al¬ 
len  and  Mrs.  Sidna  Allen,  as  the  ‘best  livers’  of  the 
section,  have  taken  them  into  their  homes  and  en¬ 
tertained  them.  No  stranger  overtaken  at  night  at 
the  home  of  an  Allen  can  pay  for  his  supper,  lodging 
and  breakfast.  Corn  for  his  beast  was  as  free  as  the 
mountain  air. 

Sidna  Allen  has  the  second  finest  home  in  Carroll 
county.  It  is  a  modern  house,  a  trifle  garish  in  its 
architecture,  but  of  a  type  more  frequently  seen  in  a 
small  and  prosperous  city  than  in  the  rural  districts. 
There  is  a  windmill  that  constitutes  a  water  plant ; 
there  is  modern  plumbing,  with  bathrooms,  and  the 
telephone  (Connects  with  the  outside  world  of  prog¬ 
ress. 

Floyd  Allen’s  home  across  the  road  also  is  a  preten¬ 
tious  abode,  with  modern  improvements. 

The  Allen  desperadoism  is  not  of  the  type  which 
usually  is  associated  with  the  isolated  mountain  re¬ 
gions.  Anybody  could  get  along  with  an  Allen  all 
right  by  treating  him  on  the  square.  This  meant 
non-interference  with  the  personal  prerogative  of  an 
Allen  to  “do  as  he  pleased.” 

If  someone  gave  his  word  and  broke  it  to  Floyd 
Allen,  that  someone  got  what  he  deserved.  If  Floyd 
beat  him  into  insensibility  with  the  butt  of  his  gun, 
if  ?»  Government  agent  became  too  inquisitive  as  to 


104  TKS  ALLaSS  «¥TLAW$ 

how  Allen  acquired  his  wealth,  and  if  his  nosing 
into  the  side  of  life  that  was  not  religiously  devel¬ 
oped,  secret  still  or  a  suspicion  of  counterfeiting,  he 
was  a  marked  man.  If  anyone  gave  testimony 
against  him  in  a  court  of  justice,  he  was  a  meddler 
and  it  was  up  to  him  to  get  the  drop  on  an  Allen  the 
next  time  he  met  one.  The  result  was  that  it  has 
been  next  to  impossible  to  get  convicting  evidence 
against  any  of  them. 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


105 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Character  and  Vows  of  the  Allens,  Who  Have 
Agreed  to  Die  Together  Rather  Than  Go  to 
Prison— Death  Before  Stripes  Is  Their  Un¬ 
written  Creed  and  Sworn  Maxim — They  Will 
Die,  but  Never  Surrender,  Is  Their  Solemn 
Vow. 

While  they  are  outlaws  of  the  worst  cIs  .s,  men  of 
desperation  and  of  the  most  crude  ideas  and  principles 
of  justice,  defying  every  law  and  taking  every  chance 
in  their  happy-go-lucky  creed  of  independence  and 
self-government,  without  outside  interference,  the  Al¬ 
lens  are  men  of  note  in  many  ways.  First  of  all  they 
are  superb  specimens  of  manhood,  tall,  brawny,  strong 
and  brave,  possessors  of  the  courage  of  lions  and  the 
strength  of  those  same  kings  of  the  forests.  Person¬ 
ally  they  are  good-hearted,  generous  to  a  fault  and 
ever  ready  to  give  their  last  dollar  to  the  needy  or  un¬ 
fortunate.  To  their  wives  and  children  they  are  de¬ 
voted  as  men  could  be  and  support  them  in  most  com¬ 
fortable  style  and  are  all  kindness  and  attention  to 
them.  Loving  their  homes,  they  provided  even  lavishly 
for  them,  even  when  to  do  so  they  had  to  risk  their 
lives  to  get  the  money  at  the  moonshine  still. 

Outwardly  to  their  enemies  there  was  nothing  of 


Io6  THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 

the  kind  and  gentle  about  them.  They  regard  every 
stranger  as  their  enemy,  and  would  no  more  hesitate 
to  shoot  a  suspected  stranger  than  would  the  average 
country  boy  refrain  from  blazing  away  at  the  big  gray 
squirrel.  They  are  as  hardy  as  rocks  and  as  deter¬ 
mined  as  Satan.  They  live  by  an  iron-clad  creed  and 
they  expect  others  to  do  the  same.  They  never  forget 
a  friend  or  forgive  an  enemy,  and  they  live  as  they 
hope  to  die — with  their  boots  on.  Family  honor  is  a 
God-given  gift  with  them,  and  they  respect  it  beyond 
all  else.  Prison  stripes  are  the  worst  brand  of  dis¬ 
grace  that  could  ever  be  placed  upon  them,  and  they 
swore  in  their  own  crude,  but  nevertheless  earnest 
way,  they  would  never  wear  them.  They  pledged 
each  other,  brother  to  brother,  that  they  would  die 
before  they  would  ever  exist  behind  prison  bars,  and 
they  have  always  made  good  the  vow,  as  far  as  hu¬ 
man  effort  could  make  it  good.  “Death  before  sur¬ 
render,”  was  the  motto  they  lived  by  and  swore  they 
would  die  by. 

In  their  savage  minds  they  had  done  no  real  wrong, 
and  they  did  not  propose  to  suffer  for  an  imaginary 
one.  In  this  they  were  determined,  and  to  its  prin¬ 
ciples  they  adhered  most  loyally.  Despite  all  the  bad 
they  were  accused  of,  and  much  of  it  was  doubtless 
well  proven,  they  kept  their  vows  like  men,  and  ac¬ 
cepted  the  penalty  without  a  murmur.  Supreme  cour¬ 
age  was  theirs  and  greater  than  that  no  man  can  pos¬ 
sess.  They  were  truly  men,  but  of  a  different  type 
from  that  which  civilized  society  approves — hence^ 
their  downfall. 


T'HE  ALLIN  ®¥TLAWS 


i©7 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

State’s  Attorney  Foster  Paid  for  His  Devotion  to 
Duty  With  His  Life — He  Was  the  First  Man 
Who  Dared  to  Openly  Expose  the  Allens  and 
Demand  Their  Punishment — Some  History  of 
the  Allen  Family — Origin  of  the  Crimes. 

Commonwealth’s  Attorney  William  Foster  was  the 
first  man  who  ever  stood  up  in  Court  and  told  the 
whole  truth  about  Floyd  Allen  and  his  gang. 

That  was  one  Thursday  morning,  and  two  days  later 
they  buried  the  body  of  the  Commonwealth’s  Attor¬ 
ney,  drilled  in  a  half  dozen  places  by  the  steel-jack- 
eted  bullets  from  the  guns  of  Floyd  Allen. 

The  father  of  the  present  elder  generation  of  Allens 
was  Jeremiah  Allen,  a  Confederate  soldier,  fearless 
and  with  a  spirit  for  fighting  that  he  transmitted  to 
his  sons. 

Garland  Allen,  a  brother  of  Floyd,  is  the  preacher 
member  of  the  family.  He  has  ‘‘toted”  his  guns  like 
the  rest.  Last  spring  the  two  Edwards  brothers, 
nephews  of  Floyd  Allen  and  his  brothers,  who  were 
indicted  recently  for  their  part  in  the  Courthouse  kill¬ 
ing,  were  sentenced  to  six  months’  imprisonment  for 
breaking  up  a  meeting  and  d^'iving  their  uncle  Garland 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


from  the  pulpit  at  the  point  of  revolvers.  Their  ex¬ 
cuse  was  that  he  was  too  d - d  mean  to  be  preaching 

to  the  other  people. 

Jasper  Allen,  who  is  said  to  have  conducted  saloons, 
in  addition  to  blockading  whiskey,  had  a  son  Walter, 
who  went  to  the  University  of  Virginia  and  was  grad¬ 
uated  in  law.  Walter  became  the  Democratic  candi¬ 
date  against  William  Foster  for  Commonwealth’s  At¬ 
torney,  the  latter  being  the  Republican  candidate.  Jas¬ 
per  campaigned  with  his  son,  with  two  revolvers 
strapped  around  him  and  a  rifle  over  his  shoulder. 
The  boy  was  defeated  and  this  fact  leads  to  the  suspi¬ 
cion  that  there  was  a  tinge  of  political  feeling  in  the 
killing  of  Foster  several  years  later. 

It  was  in  connection  with  affairs  following  the 
church  meeting  episode  referred  to  above  that  Floyd 
Allen  was  arrested,  tried  and  convicted  and  sentenced, 
thus  leading  to  the  wiping  out  of  the  Court  of  Carroll 
county.  Members  of  Garland  Allen’s  congregation 
took  steps  to  have  the  Edwards  boys  punished.  War- 
ants  for  their  arrest  were  sworn  out  and  given  to 
Deputy  Sheriff  “Pink”  Samuels  to  serve.  Accom- 
'  panied  by  Deputy  Foster,  Samuels  went  to  the  Ed¬ 
wards’  home,  handcuffed  them  and  started  with  them 
back  to  Hillsville. 

Floyd  Allen  came  to  Hillsville  when  he  heard  the 
warrents  for  his  sister’s  sons  had  been  issued  and 
asked  Commonwealth’s  Attorney  Foster  not  to  lock 
them  up,  but  to  accept  his  real  estate  bond  for  their 
appearance.  Foster  did  not  accept  the  bond,  but  he 


tMs  a:  en  outlaws 


IS  said  to  have  told  Floyd  the  boys  would  not  b® 
locked  up. 

_  On  his  way  back  Floyd  met  the  deputies  bringing 
in  his  nephews.  He  was  enraged  at  seeing  his  rela¬ 
tives  handcuffed,  leaped  from  his  horse  and  stuck  his 
revolver  m  the  faces  of  the  officers.  While  having 
them  covered,  he  relieved  them  of  their  guns,  which 
he  broke  to  pieces  over  the  buggy  wheel.  Then  he 
released  his  nephews. 

The  statement  from  the  deputies  that  they  merely 
were  carrying  out  orders  ,  so  enraged  Allen  that  he 
pulled  Samuels  from  his  buggy  and  beat  him  into 
insensibility  with  the  butt  end  of  his  gun.  Samuels 
in  fear,  soon  left  the  county,  but  plucked  up  courage 
to  return  and  testify  against  Floyd  Allen,  when  he  was 
tried  for  the  crime. 


no 


TME  ALL»J#«;  •UTLAWfe  . 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Judge  Boyd  Tells  How  He  Outwitted  the  Allen 
Gang  Years  Ago — Interesting  Story  by  an  Em¬ 
inent  Jurist  of  How  He  Balked  the  Despera¬ 
does  in  a  Federal  Court. 

Judge  James  E.  Boyd,  an  eminent  North  Carolina 
jurist,  had  an  experience  with  a  branch  of  the  Allen 
gang  which  might  have  terminated  as  this  one  did,  but 
for  his  wise  foresight  and  clever  diplomacy.  Here 
is  his.  story : 

“Well  do  I  recall  the  Allen  brothers.  It  was  a  year 
and  a  half  ago  that  Sidna  Allen  and  his  companion, 
Preston  Dinkens,  were  brought  into  my  Court,  I  was 
then  sitting  in  the  Federal  Court  at  Greensboro,  N.  C., 
on  a  charge  of  counterfeiting. 

“The  day  I  reached  Greensboro  rumors  were  rife 
that  I  would  never  have  the  satisfaction  oif  seeing 
Sidna  Allen  pay  the  penalty  for  his  offense.  When 
the  clerk  opened  Court  there  was  a  guard  of  five 
picked  deputy  sheriffs  sprinkled  among  the  spectators. 
They  were  men  of  iron  nerve  arid  eyes  of  a  hawk ;  the 
handling  of  a  gun  was  chid’s  play  for  them.  Needless 
to  say  they  were  armed  with  six-shooters. 

“Sidna  Allen  was  the  first  prisoner  of  the  day  to 


Left  to  Right — Bud  Marion.  W.  C.  Stickland  and  Victor  Allen, 

In  Jail  at  Roanoke,  Va. 


Ill 


II2 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


confront  me.  He  was  the  loose-jointed  type  of  moun¬ 
taineer,  shifty  of  eye  and  ever  with  a  sneer  upon  his 
lips.  A  blue  flannel  shirt,  rolled  back  at  the  neck, 
exposed  a  chest  worthy  of  a  blacksmith. 

“Hardly  had  Allen  faced  me  when  I  chanced  to 
glance  through  the  windows  of  the  little  red  brick 
Courthouse  and  remarked  a  score  of  roughly  clad  men, 
mounted  on  shaggy  mountain  ponies,  bearing  toward 
me  at  a  furious  pace.  Quickly  they  dismounted,  teth¬ 
ered  their  ponies  and  in  single  file  tramped  into  the 
Courtroom.  They  were  there  on  business,  but  not 
the  kind  prescribed  in  Court  ethics.  As  grim  a  look¬ 
ing  set  I  never  saw  before. 

“Quick  as  a  flash,  the  deputy  sheriffs  descended 
upon  the  gun  men,  formed  a  circle  about  them  and 
never  took  their  eyes  from  the  dust-covered  hip 
pockest. 

“Sidna  Allen  took  the  stand,  glanced  about  the 
Courtroom  until  his  eyes  rested  upon  his  brothers  and 
companions,  and  then  a  feeble  smile  spread  over  his 
furrowed  features.  He  knew  his  coup  had  failed. 
To  the  charge  of  counterfeiting  he  pleaded  not  guilty. 

“Dinkens  then  came  to  the  stand.  He  shifted  about 
and  seemed  to  be  in  a  highly  nervous  state.  Never 
once  did  he  dare  raise  hfs  eyes  to  the  Allen  boys.  In 
a  timid  voice  he  practically  admitted  his  guilt.  Wit¬ 
nesses  were  there  to  identify  him  as  the  man  who  had 
put  into  circulation  clumsily  wrought  $5  gold  pieces. 
Not  a  witness  we  had  would  testify  against  Sidna 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS  II3 

Allen.  Dinkens  drew  five  years  and  Allen  was 
acquitted. 

“Later  District  Attorney  Holton  indicted  Allen  on 
a  charge  of  perjury  in  connection  with  his  testimony 
in  the  counterfeiting  case.  I  was  determined  that 
I  would  get  my  man  this  time.  Threats  were  bruited 
about  that  bullets  would  play  as  prominent  a  part  in 
the  trial  as  musty  law  books. 

“When  I  took  my  place  on  the  bench,  I  noticed 
that  four  of  the  Allen  clan  were  seated  in  the  front 
row  of  the  spectators  benches  and  the  two  walls  were 
decorated  with  lounging  mountaineers.  My  gun  men 
were  also  present,  but  they  were  not  lolling  against 
walls.  We  had  the  goods  on  Allen  this  time,  and  I 
sentenced  him  to  two-and-a-half  years  in  the  peniten¬ 
tiary.  Not  a  murmur  was  raised;  the  mountaineers 
left  the  Courtroom  without  giving  their  guns  an  air¬ 
ing.  Everything  passed  off  as  calmly  as  a  day-,  in 
June.  Dollars  instead  of  six-shooters  were  produced, 
and  an  appeal  bond  was  obtained  for  Sidna  Allen. 

“The  Allens  are  a  fearless  family.  They  will  stop 
at  no  obstacles,  and  the  judge  who  is  not  alert  where 
one  of  them  is  arraigned  before  him  runs  a  risk 
greater  than  I  would  care  to  take  again.’' 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


II4 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Floyd  Allen’s  Own  Story — Claims  the  Court  Offi¬ 
cers  Became  Alarmed  and  Began  the  Firing, 
Which  Statement  Is  Discredited  —  Badly 
Wounded,  but  Still  a  Game  Old  Mountaineer, 
Who  Can  Be  Killed  but  Not  Conquered. 

Floyd  Allen,  whose  sentence  of  a  year  in  prison  led 
to  the  murderous  outbreak  in  the  Hillsville  Courtroom 
and  who  is  in  Roanoke  Jail,  badly  wounded,  still  ve¬ 
hemently  denies  that  the  Allens  started  the  shooting, 
and  contends  that  the  first  shot  was  fired  by  a  Court 
officer.  He  said  to  the  writer :  “I  and  my  son  have 
been  locked  up  here  nearly  a  week  now.  I  want  a 
square  deal.  In  the  first  place,  my  son  Victor  never 
fired  a  single  shot.  We  both  expect  to  be  electrocuted. 
Our  murder  is  as  certain  as  the  sun  will  rise  tomor¬ 
row.  But  it  will  be  plain  murder  if  they  put  Vic.  in 
the  chair.  Me?  Why,  sure,  I  fired.  But  before  Cock 
I  give  you  my  solemn  oath  I  did  not  start  the  firing. 
I  did  not  know  when  Judge  Massie  pronounced  sen¬ 
tence  that  there  would  be  any  shooting.  It  came  un¬ 
expectedly  to  me.  That  there  was  a  conspiracy  is  a 
damned  lie. 


TME  ALL£N  OUTLAWS  Tljg 

“Of  course,  when  everybody  else  started  shooting, 
I  got  my  pistol  and  joined  in  the  fray.  Why  shouldn’t 
I?  It  was  in  self-defense.  When  our  people  went 
into  the  Courtroom,  they  intended  to  kill  nobody,  and 
I  at  heart  was  ready  to  go  to  jail.  I  am  not  afraid 
of  death,  and  that  is  what  is  looking  us  in  the  face. 

“Judge  Hairston  is  my  lawyer,  but  they  won’t  give 
him  any  show.  We  will  be  all  tried  in  Carroll  county 
if  I  have  any  say  about  it,  and  we  Allens — we  are 
fighting  men — will  show  them  how  an  Allen  can  go  to 
his  death ;  but  Vic,  I  want  you  to  save  him.  The  boy 
never  drew  his  gun.  Maybe  he  ought  to  have,  but  he 
didn’t.” 

Ex-Judge  N.  H.  Hairston  said: 

“I  was  asked  by  Mr.  Allen  to  visit  him,  and 
when  I  saw  him  he  insisted  on  my  acting  as  his  coun¬ 
sel.  I  have  not  decided  whether  I  will  do  so  or  not, 
but  no  matter  what  position  I  take,  I  would  like 
printed  this  statement: 

“Both  Victor  and  Floyd  Allen  have  given  me  their 
solemn  oaths  that  they  did  not  start  the  firing  that 
day  in  the  Hillsville  Courthouse.  I  believe  them. 
These  are  not  the  ordinary  type  of  mountaineers. 
These  people  are  men  of  property  and  sense.  No 
matter  what  crime  a  man  may  have  committed,  he  is 
entitled  to  a  fair  hearing,  and  these  people  will  get 
theirs,  or  I  will  know  the  reason  why.” 

Floyd  Allen  is,  comparatively  speaking,  an  old  man, 
but  he  is  still  strong  and  vigorous.  Standing  over 
&!?■  fe*t  in  his  socks,  his  carriage  is  erect;  he  is  alert 


ti6  THE  ALLEI«'  O'OfTLAWS 

and  vigorous,  with  a  mass  of  curly  gray  hair  covering 
his  head.  His  brow  is  broad;  his  eyes  twinkle  and 
flash  as  he  speaks.  He  is  better  educated  than  the 
usual  mountaineer  and  he  talks  with  intelligence  upon 
ordinary  current  topics. 


TBB  MUMiSt  &mULWS 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Varied  Facts  and  Incidents  About  the  Allen  Out¬ 
laws— Interesting  Data  Concerning  Them  and 
the  Country  in  Which  They  Live— Romantic 
Spots  in  the  Mountains  Where  They  Distilled 
Moonshine  Whiskey  and  Fought  Their  Feuds. 

The  lives  of  the  Allen  gang  and  the  section  of  the 
Blue  Ridge  mountains  in  which  they  live  abounds  with 
romance  and  traditions  of  other  days.  It  is  there 
that  for  generations  they  have  distilled  their  moon¬ 
shine  whiskey,  fought  their  family  feuds,  married 
and  raised  their  children,  in  practically  a  little  world 
of  their  own,  which  they  seldom  depart  from  and 
which  was  seldom  invaded  by  outsiders. 

These  mountaineers  are  the  purest  Americans,  so 
far  as  blood  goes,. that  there  are.  But  they  are  just 
a  few  generations  behind  on  civilation.  The  same 
type  of  man  can  be  found  all  along  the  Blue  Ridge 
Mountains.  It  seems  that  in  Virginia  and  North  Car¬ 
olina  they  have  taken  to  making  whiskey,  and,  with 
their  primitive  determination,  one  who  knows  them 
is  inclined  to  think  they  will  continue  until  greater 
forces  than  law  are  brought  to  bear. 

Rev.  Isaac  Canneday,  who  knows  them  well,  says; 


II# 


THl  AL^i£N  OUTLAWS 


“I  don’t  blame  the  Allen  boys  and  their  partners  so 
much  as  I  do  the  State  of  Virginia  for  allowing  them 
to  remain  in  ignorance  and  to  make  whiskey.  I  say 
that,  too,  remembering  that  I  am  a  native  Virginian. 
Missionaries  should  have  gone  into  that  country  years 
ago  and  taught  the  gospel  of  love.  The  inhabitants 
are  not  afraid  of  force.  Love  and  persuasion  offer 
the  only  way  to  win  them.  If  they  wish,  those  moun¬ 
taineers  will  make  whiskey  and  sell  it  as  long  as  they 
live ;  the  only  way  to  stop  it  is  to  make  them  see  the 
error  of  their  ways. 

‘‘This  is  a  large-sized  proposition,  but  the  result  is 
worth  it.  There  are  some  good  people  in  the  vicinity 
who  will  help.  In  Hillsville  are  good  Christian  souls, 
who  play  no  part  in  the  lawlessness  of  the  mountains. 

“Up  in  the  Blue  Ridge,  where  civilization  is  so 
scarce,  the  Primitive  Baptist  religion  holds  sway.  One 
of  the  present  outlaws  is  a  pastor  of  the  faith.  I 
have  attended  the  religious  gatherings  out  beneath  the 
trees,  where  the  men  can  chew,  spit  and  trade  horses 
while  the  sermon  is  in  progress.  They  will  not  have 
a  building.  Their  worship  is  characterized  by  a  mani¬ 
festation  of  hatred  for  all  other  sects.  They  are 
strong  believers  in  predestination ;  that  if  God  will 
save  them  He  will,  and  if  He  won’t,  they  can’t  help 
it.  They  believe  that  God  made  grain  to  be  made  into 
whiskey  and  that  a  revenue  officer  should  be  helped 
along  to  glory. 

“There  is  an  enormous  field  there  for  home  mis¬ 
sionary  work.  There  will  be  no  warm  welcome  await- 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS  •  I  IQ 

ing-  the  missionary,  but  in  the  end  his  efforts  can  win, 
and  this  is  the  only  way  civilization  will  ever  be  carried 
to  these  people.” 

Criminal  records  of  Carroll  county  show  that  within 
the  mountain  section  of  Carroll  county,  where  the 
Allens  live,  not  less  than  30  murders  have  been  com¬ 
mitted  in  the  last  20  years.  Many  of  the  homicides 
resulted  from  drunken  fights  and  were  committed  by 
men  whose  minds  were  inflamed  with  moonshine  whis¬ 
key.  Among  the  murdered  were  the  Dunkard 
■preacher,  Easter,  who  was  called  from  his  home  and 
shot  to  death  for  testifying  against  moonshiners.  Four 
men  have  paid  the  death  penalty  on  the  gallows  in 
the  jail  here,  and  another  was  killed  by  a  mob  which 
stormed  the  little  prison,  took  out  the  prisoner  and 
shot  him  to  pieces. 

Among  the  men  jailed  in  the  drunken  fights  were 
two  named  Allen  and  two  named  Edwards. 

“Judg’e  Massie  was  warned  by  Sheriff  Webb,  State’s 
Attorney  Foster  and  Dexter  Goad,  Court  clerk,  at  a 
conference  h^ld  the  night  before  the  tragedy  in  the 
Hillsville  Courthouse  that  extra  precautions  should  be 
taken  at  the  session  of  Court  next  day,”  said  Charles 
P.  Waugh,  a  merchant  of  Galax,  Va.  Galax  is  15 
miles  from  Hillsville. 

‘‘All  three  men  urged  the  Judge,  continued  Mr. 
Waugh,  “to  swear  in  additional  deputies  and  have 
every  man  searched  who  entered  the  Courtroom.  In 
fact,  so  strongly  did  Sheriff  Webb  plead  with  the 
Judge  that  he  take  unusual  precautions  that  Judge 


120 


THE  AbLEN  0UTLAW* 


Massie  informed  him  he  would  swear  in.  another 
Sheriif  if  he  was  afraid  to  act.  Finding  that  they 
could  not  move  the  Judge,  the  three  officials,  all  of 
whom  were  men  of  nerve,  determined  to  abide  by 
Judge  Massie’s  decision.  But  both  Foster  and  Goad 
expected  trouble  and  went  into  Court  armed. 

“Foster  had  first  incurred  the  enmity  of  Floyd 
Allen  some  years  ago  when  they  had  an  argument  in 
a  local  magistrate’s  office.  Goad,  so  far  as  I  know, 
never  had  trouble  with  any  of  the  Allen  men,  with  the 
exception  of  Jasper,  or  “Jack”  Allen,  with  whom  he 
had  a  fight  several  years  ago.  But  this,  I  do  not 
think,  had  any  bearing  on  the  seeming  determination 
of  the  Allens  to  get  Goad.” 

The  finding  of  90  gallons  of  whiskey  and  a  still  at 
Floyd  Allen’s  home  and  two  stills  at  the  home  of  the 
Edwards  boys  puts  a  different  light  on  the  Allens.  It 
has  not  been  generally  believed  that  the  Allens  manu¬ 
factured  or  sold  liquor.  Jack  Allen,  it  is  understood, 
used  to  sell  whiskey  from  a  wagon  and  once  or  twice  ^ 
the  story  runs,  he  defied  the  officers  to  search  his 
wagon.  But  Floyd  Allen  has  been  exonerated  by  | 
the  public  from  the  occasional  charge  of  moonshining  a 
or  blockading.  The  officers  now  think,  however,  that  | 
he  got  much  of  his  money  making  whiskey.  The  I 
liquor  and  still  found  couple  him,  they  think,  with  the 
business.  The  Edwaids  boys  had  not  been  suspected  4 
of  moonshining.  .i 

The  discovery  of  the  copper  still  and  the  whiskey 
leads  to  the  conclusion,  United  States  and  State  offi-  j 


IMM  ALLJEJf  ©¥TLAW* 


cera  declare,  that  the  remark  of  George  Peters,  the 
man  executed  for  shooting  to  death  Rev.  Joseph 
Easter,  a  Dunkard  preacher  of  the  Fancy  Gap  country, 
as  he  was  about  to  drop  into  eternity,  becomes  more 
significant.  Peters,  while  standing  on  the  scaffold, 
ready  to  receive  the  black  cap,  looked  -down  upon  the 
curious  crowd,  singled  out  a  man  from  Fancy  Gap 
and  said,  ‘If  my  friends  had  stood  by  me  I  would 
not  be  here  today.  It  has  been  intimated  many  times 
that  some  of  the  lawless  Allens  inspired  the  murder 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Easter,  who  testified  before  a  grand  jury 
that  indicted  Peters  for  making  moonshine  whiskey. 
The  motive  for  the  alleged  part  of  the  Allens  in  the 
Peters  affair  has  not  been  quite  clear,  but  if  it  develops 
that  Floyd  and  Peters  were  fellow-moonshiners  all  is 
plain. 

Another  tragedy  was  enacted  in  the  old  Carroll 
county  Courthouse  several  days  after  the  real  out¬ 
break.  Another  troop  of  mountain  outlaws  rode  in, 
shot  the  Judge  down  off  his  bench  and  duplicated  the 
previous  gruesome  assassination,  but  this  time  it  was 
only  for  the  moving-pictures.  The  actors  did  more 
firing  and  made  more  racket  and  caused  almost  a3 
much  fuss  as  the  real  outlaws  did,  and  Hillsville 
almost  had  as  much  excitement. 

The  only  real  fighting  was  between  the  moving- 
picture  men.  Hillsville’s  rialto,  which  extends  from 
the  Courthouse  to  the  blacksmith  shop,  was  not  replete 
•with  amateur  Thespians  who  wanted  to  take  a  part 
in  the  scene  and  competition  for  their  service  was  brisk. 


TWl  ALL»>^  ©¥TLAW» 


123 

The  pictures  were  finally  made  after  much  rehears¬ 
ing,  while  the  camera  men  clicked  off  the  reels  and 
the  stage  manager’s  megaphone  made  echoes  in  the 
nearby  hills. 

The  fighting  Allens  cannot  be  traced  back  further 
than  their  parents,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jerry  Allen,  both  of 
whom  were  Scotch.  Mrs.  Allen  was  a  McCombs.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Allen  are  high-strung,  quick-tempered  and 
ready  to  resent  an  insult,  real  or  fancied.  Allen  was 
a  Confederate  soldier  in  the  Civil  War  and  on  many 
battlefields  proved  his  courage.  Industrious  and 
thrifty,  he  prospered  as  a  stock  breeder. 

Jerry  Allen  was  known  as  a  sensitive,  hot-tempered 
man,  sound  of  body  and  mind  and  amply  able  to  take 
care  of  himself  in  any  physical  or  mental  contest  with 
his  neighbors.  He  was  considered  the  champion  fist- 
fighter  of  Carroll  county,  and  his  fists  were  the  only 
weapons  he  used.  He  was  not  ferocious  or  savage, 
but  ever  ready  to  accept  anything  that  looked  like  a 
challenge.  He  wore  a  chip  on  his  shoulder  and  woe 
be  to  the  man  who  knocked  it  off. 

In  a  cove  in  Fancy  Gap  he  reared  seven  sons  and 
two  daughters.  The  boys  and  girls  grew  up  and 
prospered.  The  young  Allens  were  wealthier,  keener 
witted  and  more  powerful  physically  than  the  average 
of  their  neighbors.  They  inherited  brains,  courage, 
temper,  aggressiveness  and  clannishness  from  their 
father  and  mother.  The  Allens  were  the  business, 
social  and  physical  leaders  o^  a  large  section  of  a 
beautiful  mountain  country 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


123 


Contrary  to  the  report:-  that  the  Allens  had  cut  the 
telephone  wires,  the  fact  is  that  they  have  not  been 
cut  at  all.  Ella  Wilcox  and  her  sister,  the  operators, 
refused  to  take  fright  at  the  Allens  and  have  been 
sticking  to  the  switchboard  night  and  day. 

A  day  or  two  before  the  shooting  one  of  the  Allens 
called  for  a  number,  and,  not  getting  it  quickly,  said 
to  the  operator: 

guess  you  don’t  know  who  I  am ;  I  m  one  of  the 
fighting  Allens.”  “Yes,”  returned  the  country  girls, 
‘‘and  I’m  one  of  the  fighting  Wilcoxes,  and  when  you 
come  I’ll  be  prepared.” 

Woman’s  nerve  hasn’t  been  lacking  in  Hillsville, 
altliough  the  stories  of  it  have  been  delayed.  When 
Clerk  Goad  was  doing  a  pistol  battle  with  two  of  the 
Allens,  his  daughter  Jazebel  ran  to  his  side  with  a 
freshly  loaded  revolver  and  probably  saved  his  life. 


124 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Some  Distorted  Stories  of  the  Mountain  Region  and 
the  Great  Man  Hunt — Things  Not  So  Warlike 
as  So  Widely  Described — Pastoral  Scenes  in 
the  Vicinity  of  the  Homes  of  the  Allens. 

One  who  has  read  the  accounts  of  the  reign  of 
anarchy  throughout  the  mountain  region  and  then 
rhakes  an  extended  tour  through  it  must  needs  smile 
at  the  contrast.  Outside  the  occasional  detective  bear¬ 
ing  his  rifle  much  in  evidence,  the  most  lawless  sight 
that  greets  the  traveler  in  those  parts,  advertised  as 
most  dangerous,  is  the  farmboy  whistling  on  his  way 
to  mill  or  some  picturesque  little  mountain  child  gath¬ 
ering  galax  for  the  Northern  flower  shops.  Barring 
the  aforesaid  detective,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find*  a 
quieter  or  more  peaceful  community  anywhere  outside 
of  a  Quaker  settlement  than  Fancy  Gap  neighborhood. 

As  for  the  detective,  he  is  a  source  of  pea'petual 
amusement  and  delight  to  the  native. 

Of  course  all  work  in  that  vicinity  was  suspended, 
not  because  there  is  anything  to  hinder  folks  from 
working,  but  the  temptation  to  gather  around  the 
neighborhood  store  or  the  blacksmith’s  shop  and  talk 
Allen  talk  is  wholly  irresistible.  And  it  is  to  these 


126 


THE  ALLEN  ©UTLAWS 


gatherings  that  the  detect've  furnishes  the  element  of 
humor.  The  hard,  practical  mountaineer  saw  at  once 
that  for  men  to  be  merely  patrolling  the  highways  on 
horseback  was  no  way  to  catch  a  man  in  a  thicket; 
hence  he  has  made  the  detective,  who  rarely  if  ever 
gets  off  the  beaten  trail,  the  butt  of  his  broad  humor. 

Then,  too,  although  the  mountaineer  abhors  the 
Allens  for  the  bloody  deed  of  Hillsville,  he  rejoices 
that  the  power  of  ,the  bullying  family  is  forever  broken 
and  would  delight  to  see  them  all  hanged,  still  he  feels 
a  kind  of  satisfaction  at  the  thought  that  it  is  the  man 
from  right  there  where  he  lives  who  is  so  cleverly* 
outwitting  these  foreigners  who  came  in  to  conquer 
with  banners  flying. 

When  first  the  clean  shaven  detective  invaded  those 
Fancy  Gap  parts  he  was  disposed  to  sneer  at  tiie  chin 
whiskered  native  with  the  crownless  cap  and  the  cor¬ 
rugated  bootleg;  but  of  late  that  has  all  changed  and 
the  detective,  irritated  by  the  uniform  lack  of  any  kind 
of  success,  grows  peevish  when  the  “  ’sang”  digger, 
with  mock  innocence,  asks  how  many  Allens  he  has 
caught  today. 

It  belongs  to  one  of  these  same  sons  of  the  hills 
to  add  a  new  and  expressive  word  to  the  English 
language.  Talking  to  one  residing  near  Piper’s  Gap 
who  had  been  in  the  Courtroom  the  day  of  the  shoot¬ 
ing,  he  was  asked  what  the  crowd  did  when  the  firing 
began. 

“The  crowd?”  echoed  the  native,  “Why,  when  they 
commenced  to  pop,  we-all  jes’  squandered!” 


ALLS.N  mtLAWS 


CHAPTER  XXVIL 

In  the  Heart  of  the  Outlaws’  Country — A  Wild  Sec¬ 
tion  Where  Death  Lurks  Behind  Every  Rock _ 

Rough  but  Hospitable  Mountaineers  on  Their 
Native  Heath. 

Halfway  between  Fancy  Gap  and  Piper’s  Gap  is 
Sugar  Loaf,  a  great  hulking  mountain  that  could  con¬ 
ceal  a  regiment  in  its  crags  and  wooded  knobs.  Along 
the  road  that  skirts  it,  two  detectives  were  riding 
leisurely ;  they  were  looking  up  at  the  mountain ;  they 
continued  to  look  as  they  rode. — and  passed  on.  One 
wondered  why  they  did  not  go  up  into  the  woods  and 
^  search  for  the  Allens ;  but  a  second  glance  at  the  vast 
flank  of  the  great  mountain  mass  made  the  wonder  to 
cease.  Small  chance  there  was  to  locate  one  man  or 
a  hundred  there. 

That  was  a  specimen  of  several  excursions  that 
were  made  into  the,  mountains  about  Fancy  Gap — 
where,  let  it  be  repeated,  the  detectives  still  insisted 
the  outlaws  were  hiding.  Sometimes  they  went  down 
to  the  southern  slope  on  foot ;  once  they  spent  all  night 
with  a  solitary  mountaineer  in  a  solitary  cabin  on  a 
solitary  mountain.  That  was  a  mile  from  any  road, 
but  the  mountaineer  was  far  more  intelligent  than  the 


£2S  TSa  AJ-LEN  OL'iLAWb 

Other  backwoods  mountaineer..  Next  morning  that 
mountaineer  started  off  to  stalk  three  miles  back—for 
a  five-cent  bag  of  tobacco.  He  said  he  never  bought 
more  than  five  cents’  worth  at  a  time  and  always 
walked  down  after  that  one  bag. 

Throughout  these  goings  to  and  fro  we  often  came 
upon  some  of  the  Allen  folk,  oftentimes  lodging  or 
taking  a  meal  with  them.  One  and  all  invariably  said 
that  they  did  not  know  where  any  of  the  hunted  men 
were ;  but  every  single  one  agreed  in  declaring  that  to 
his  knowledge,  none  of  them  were  in  the  mountains 
from  Ward’s  to  Piper’s  Gaps,  nor  anywhere  near  those 
mountains. 

No  people  could  have  been  more  hospitable  to  a 
friend  even,  much  less  inquisitive  strangers,  than  were 
the  Allens.  At  Jack  Allen’s  dinner  table  the  guests 
were  given  the  head  of  the  table,  the  seats  of  honor, 
according  to  Carroll  county  etiquette.  At  the  right 
sat  Jack  himself;  at  his  left  sat  a  detective  detailed' 
to  watch  his  every  movement  lest  he  communicate 
with  some  of  his  hunted  kinsmen.  It  would  naturally 
be  supposed  that  under  such  circumstances  the  host 
would  have  acted  constrainedly  toward  the  detective  at 
least.  On  the  contrary,  from  the  easy  and  genial 
flow  of  conversation  that  fell  from  his  lips  one  would 
have  supposed  these  strange  sitters  at  his  board  were 
old-time  friends  of  his.  Jack  Allen  is  a  man  of  keen 
sense  of  humor  and  several  times  at  dinner  that  day 
told  some  genial  story;  then  fearing,  no  doubt,  that 
levity  might  seem  to  his  guests  as  sonqewhat  out  of 


TKIE  ALLSN  G'UTLAWv 


place  on  the  lips  of  a  man  in  his  position,  he  added ; 

“Well,  no  matter  how  bad  things  go  we  ought  to 
have  our  little  jokes  as  we  go  through  life.’’ 

After  dinner,  Jack’s  son  Barnard,  a  handsome  and 
clever  young  man  of  some  twenty-three -years  of  age, 
took  his  guests  out  to  the  stable  to  see  the  horses. 
Here  were  stalled,  among  others,  as  fine  a  pair  of 
Clydesdales  as  New  York  city  can  boast. 

“Father  refused  eight  hundred  dollars  for  them,” 
said  Barnard  proudly,  “but  I  think  my  riding  horse 
the  best  of  the  lot,”  and  his  queer  visitors  had  to  view 
his  favorite,  a  handsome  saddle  animal.  If  the  old 
English  adage,  “Show  me  a  man’s  horses  and  I’ll  tell 
you  the  man,”  be  true,  Jack  Allen  stands  high  among 
men. 

Indeed,  all  of  the  Allens  have  horses.  All  the  fine 
horses  of  Sydna  and  Floyd  have  been  seized  and  are 
being  used  by  the  detectives. 

Returning  to  Jack,  so  closely  did  that  detective  stick 
to  him  that  it  was  difficult  to  get  a  private  v/ord.  Then, 
speaking  of  the  tragedy.  Jack  said: 

“Of  course,  it  is  a  matter  of  deepest  sorrow  and 
regret  to  me,  this  deep  trouble  of  my  brothers  and 
sons,  but  personally  I  was  in  no  way  connected  with 
it.  I  was  sick  in  bed  at  the  time. 

“I  was  not  connected  with  it  and  I  am  not  going  to 
be  connected  with  it,  either.  I  don’t  want  to  get 
myself  in  endless  trouble.  Even  if  I  would,  there  is 
no  way  I  can  do  any  of  them  any  good,  and  if  there 
were,  and  I  should  attempt  it,  I  would  be  running  a 


1 1©  Tiri  ALLEN  ^^TLAWS 

terrible  risk  of  doing  mys;  'f  harm  for  life.  Since 
they  left  here  I  don’t  know  where  they  are,  and  I  don’t 
want  to  know  just  yet  awhile.  What  I’m  figuring  on 
now  is  to  keep  myself  out  of  trouble.” 

Jack’s  attitude  toward  “the  detective  in  the  house” 
is  characteristic  of  a  broad  side  of  his  nature.  The 
man  was  set  to  watch  him  by  his  superiors,  Baldwin 
and  Felts,  with  a  view  of  trailing  him  if  he  sought 
communication  with  his  hunted  kinsmen,  and  thus  dis¬ 
cover  their  secret  hiding  place.  Jack  saw  the  man 
skulking  about  in  the  cold  rain  outside. 

“Here,  you !”  he  exclaimed,  going  up  to  him  in 
open  frankness,”  “I  don’t  care  who  you  are’  or  what 
your  business  is,  but  I  don’t  want  to  see  any  man 
shivering  around  my  place  when  there’s  a  big,  warm 
fire  and  plenty  to  cat  inside.”  And  the  fellow  has 
been  treated  as  a  guest  ever  since. 

When  Jack  was  told  that  the  detectives  at  Hillsville 
were  boasting  that  they  had  trailed  down  and  captured 
his  nephew,  Sydney  Edwards,  at  the  point  of  the  rifle, 
he  smiled  broadly. 

“Why,  Sydney  came  to  me  the  other  day,”  he  said, 
“and  told  me  that  he  wanted  to  give  himself  up,  as  he 
had  been  unarmed  that  day  of  the  shooting  and  had 
taken  no  part  in  it.  I  telephoned  to  the  detectives  and 
they  came  and  got  him.  He  was  waiting  for  them 
There  isn’t  anything  more  to  it.” 

All  the  Allens  with  whom  the  writer  talked — and 
there  were  many  of  them — expressed  exactly  the  same 
opinion  as  Jack;  that  is,  that  they  did  not  know  where 


THE  ALLEN  0UTLAWS 


I3I 

their  fugitive  kinsmen  were  but  felt  certain  that  they 
were  a  long  distance  awa}^  from  the  locality  where 
the  detectives  placed  them.  And  this  unanimity  can¬ 
not  be  the  result  of  any  conference  among  them, 
because  in  two  instances  the  persons  had  not  seen  any 
of  the  others  since  the  tragedy.  One  was  Victor 
Allen,  Sr.,  brother  of  Jack.  He  keeps  a  store  about 
three  miles  north  of  Hillsville,  and  his  record  as  a 
business  man  and  a  law-abiding  citizen  is  as  clean  and 
white  as  a  hound’s  tooth.  ' 

‘‘I’ve  never  been  in  any  trouble  in  my  life,”  he  said 
in  talking  of  the  Hillsville  shooting,  “and  I  am  not 
going  to  get  into  any  now  at  my  time  of  life.  I 
haven’t  been  to  Hillsville  or  seen  any  of  my  brothers 
since  last  August.  If  I  could  be  of  use  to  them  with¬ 
out  getting  mixed  up  in  this  terrible  thing,  I  would 
gladly  help  them,  but  I’ve  got  to  be  careful  I  don’t 
injure  myself.” 

The  other  members  of  the  Allen  connection  was 
Rollo  Mitchell,  of  Fancy  Gap,  who  is  a  brother-in-law 
of  Sydna  Allen’s.  He  exhibits  a  sensible  ambition  to 
steer  clear  of  all  entangling  alliances  in  the  matter  of 
extending  help  to  a  fugitive  from  justice;  but  while 
he  considers,  his  connections  by  marriage  have  gone  in¬ 
excusably  beyond  all  bounds,  he  thinks  that  the  people 
of  Carroll  county,  especially  the  officials  of  the  Courts, 
have  not  been  altogether  free  from  blame. 

“The  root  of  all  this  trouble  is  this,”  he  said.  "The 
Allens  have  been  spoiled,  and  badly  spoiled,  by  the 
Carroll  people  for  ten  or  fifteen  years  I  those 


132 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


of  the  family  who  have  let  their  tempers  run  away 
with  them.  If,  when  they  first  began  to  break  the 
laws,  the  persons  injured  had  vigorously  prosecuted 
them  and  the  Court  had  passed  judgment  just  as  it 
would  do  in  the  case  of  others,  this  tragedy  would 
never  have  occurred.  But,  instead  of  that,  when  one 
of  them  got  into  some  serious  trouble  in  law  breaking, 
the  witnesses  would  gloss  over  their  acts  and  the  Court 
impose  a  light  sentence,  or  perhaps  none  at  all,  until 
these  men  got  to  believe  they  were  superior  to  the  law. 

“And,  in  spite  of  all  that,  they  recognized  at  bottom 
their  duty  to  pay  the  penalty.  Only  they  got  so 
spoiled  that  at  length  they  presumed  to  pass  sentence 
on  themselves;  be  their  own  judge  and  jury,  so  to 
speak,  as  in  the  case  when  one  of  them  resisted  arrest 
at  Mount  Airy,  N.  C.,  and  the  officers,  being 
frightened,  doubtless,  dropped  the  whole  matter.  Allen, 
before  he  left  town,  went  up  to  the  Mayor  and,  telling 
him  he  had  broken  the  law  and  decided  to  pay  the 
penalty,  added  that  he  thought  a  certain  sum  was 
about  right  and  handed  that  amount  over  to  the 
.Mayor, 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


m 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Edgar  James  to  the  Scene  of  the  Outbreak  and  the 
Difficulties  He  Encountered — Special  Repre¬ 
sentative  of  the  Publishers  of  This  Book 
Quickly  on  Hand, 

The  enterprise  of  the  publishers  of  this 
book  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  news 
of  the  outrageous  riot  had  scarcely  reached  the 
outside  world  before  they  had  the  writer  on  his  way 
to  the  scene  of  the  crime.  Upon  his  arrivel  at  Hills- 
ville,  he  found  the  little  village  almost  paralyzed  with 
shock  and  fright.  The  bloody  affair  was  the  sole 
topic  of  conversation,  and  everybody  was  much 
excited. 

The  whole  mountain  country,  it  was  said,  was  held 
by  the  outlaws.  It  was  averred  they  had  taken  refuge 
in  Devil’s  Den,  a  monutain  cave  whose  gruesome 
name  marched  well  with  the  tragic  facts.  Arms  suffi¬ 
cient  for  an  army  were  hurried  to  Hillsville — where 
there  was  nobody  to  use  them.  Attacks  by  the  despe¬ 
radoes  upon  Hillsville  were  each  day  threatened,  so  it 
was  said.  For  a  man  to  venture  alone  into  the  country 
around  Fancy  Gap,  the  center  of  the  Allens’  domain, 
was  to  take  his  life  in  his  hands. 


134 


THE  ALLE.'i  OUTLAWS 


Meantime  newspaper  men  poured  in;  the  curious 
came  to  see  and  shudder;  even  the  moving-picture 
man  set  his  tripod  in  the  middle  of  the  road  that 
masquerades  as  Main  street  and  ground,  away  at 
detectives  galloping  madly  in  pursuit  of  fictitious  out¬ 
laws  for  the  delectation  of  future  nickelodeon  audien¬ 
ces.  Countrymen  flocked  in  to  get  the  latest  news, 
and  Hillsville  entered  upon  an  era  of  prosperity  such 
as  it  had  never  known.  And  meantime  the  tales  that 
grew  with  their  roots  in  the  mysterious  mountains  to 
the  south  waxed  with  the  increasing  national  interest. 
Outlaws  and  detectives  in  popular  vision  took  on 
forms  different  from  that  of  ordinary  mortals  in  that 
sombre  region  of  rhountain  and  gorge  wherein  the 
Allens  were  said  to  be  defying  the  laws  of  God  and 
man. 

Desiring  to  see  Floyd  Allen,  who  had  been  removed 
to  the  Roanoke  Jail,  before  venturing  into  a  district  so 
given  over  to  anarchy,  the  writer  waited  upon  Judge 
Waller  Staples,  of  Roanoke,  who  had  been  appointed 
to  fill  the  vancy  created  by  the  murder  of  Judge 
Massie,  at  Hillsville,  to  obtain  the  necessary  permis¬ 
sion. 

“But  the  detectives  will  not  permit  you  to  go  into 
the  mountain  regions  south  of  Hillsville,”  stated  the 
Judge. 

When  was  martial  law  declared  in  Carroll  county?” 
was  asked.  “What  right  have  detectives  to  molest  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States  upon  the  public  highway 
mo’-e  than  any  other  private  person  has?” 


THIS  AL-LfiN  ©HTLAWS 


1^5 

*‘But  they  want  to  protect  you/’  explained  Judg-e 
Staples.  “A  man  is  taking  his  life  in  his  hands  going 
down  there'  in  that  lawless  region  now.” 

Whence  it  may  be  seen  to  what  a  bewildering  extent 
had  spread  this  idea  that  because  a  handful  of  lawless 
men  had  been  guilty  of  the  crime  of  murder  a  terri¬ 
tory  as  large  as  a  German  principality  should  suddenly 
become  metamorphosed  into  a  wilderness  where  an¬ 
archy  reigned  supreme,  and  the  life  of  a  traveler,  no 
matter  how  peaceable,  was  in  imminent  danger. 

Omitting  the  interminable  details,  the  writer,  in 
company  with  a  kinsman  of  the  Allens,  first  ap¬ 
proached  the  proscribed  region  toward  Willis’  Gap. 
This  Gap  lies  some  eight  or  ten  ‘miles  to  the  east  of 
Fancy  Gap,  which  may  be  called  the  center  of  the 
disturbed  district.  It  took  but  a  short  time  to  be  con¬ 
vinced  that  none  of  the  fugitives  had  betaken  them¬ 
selves  over  that  far  east,  one  of  many  reasons,  and  a 
sufficient  one,  being  that  many  of  the  residents  there¬ 
abouts  are  hostile  to  the  Allens  and  all  their  kind,  on 
account  of  some  ancient  quarrel,  not  amounting  to  a 
feud,  but  handed  down  from  father  to  son  with  the 
ancestral  acres  and  merely  evidencing  itself  in  doing 
any  convenient  injury.  That  district  being  thus, domi¬ 
nated  by  enemies,  as  it  were,  it  would  have  been  tanta¬ 
mount  to  walking  into  an  open  jail  to  seek  harbor  and 
refuge  there. 

Accordingly,  the  writer  went  to  Hillsville,  still  bent 
upon  invading  the  outlaw  country,  despite  the  warning 
of  Judge  Staples  about  the  interferance  of  the  detect- 


T*1  ALLBN  OUTLAWS 


ives.  It  may  be  said  here  that  never  once  during  all 
the  time  that  he  was  in  the  mountains  was  he  molested 
or  treated  otherwise  than  with  the  utmost  courtesy  by 
the  detectives  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  He  did 
come  across  evidences  of  questionable  behavior  by 
them  in  regard  to  the  rights  of  the  wives  and  children 
of  the  men  they  were  hunting,  such  as  quartering 
themselves  on  Mrs.  Floyd  Allen  at  her  home,  where 
she  sat  wrapped  in  a  grief  as  great  as  even  woman¬ 
kind  can  bear  without  unseating  her  reason,  and  for 
the  purpose  of  hunting  them  down,  such  as  seizing 
and  using  the  horses  left  by  the  fugitives.  But  per¬ 
sonally  he  found  them  throught  the  mountains  alto¬ 
gether  most  courteous  men.  As  to  their  ability  to 
direct  a  mountaineer  when  his  foot  is  on  his  native 
heath; — that  is  a  different  subject. 

In  Hillsville  one  might  hear  fifty-seven  different 
varieties  of  the  same  Allen  story  all  within  the  dis¬ 
tance  of  a  city  block.  The  town  divided  itself  between 
two  occupations,  one  waiting  for  news  from  the  grim 
southern  mountains,  and  the  other,  which  seemed  in¬ 
deed  to  attain  the  dignity  of  a  profession,  having  its 
picture  “took.”  Rare  was  the  moment  when  one  could 
not  see  from  one  to  half  a  dozen  cameras  snapping 
away  at  things  and  men,  mostly  men.  One  proud 
leader  of  the  detectives  who,  when  mounted  upon  his 
curvetting  black  charger,  with  a  most  startling  white 
bridle,  looked  a  very  thunderbolt  of  war,  had  himself 
snapped  seven  times  in  one  afternoon,  and  then,  with 
thirst  for  fame  still  unsatisfied,  galloped  twice  down 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


137 


the  street,  with  hand  on  rifle,  while  two  moving  pic¬ 
ture  men  perpetrated  the  moving  sight. 

It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  the  situation  in  that 
section  without  some  knowledge  of  the  topography  of 
the  country,  which  is  most  peculiar.  About  ten  miles 
south  of  Hillsville  runs  the  crest  of  the  Blue  Ridge 
Mountains,  tending  a  little  south  of  west,  at  an  alti¬ 
tude  of  about  3,000  feet  above  sea  level.  On  the 
southern  slope  the  mountain  drops  off  precipitously 
for  about  fifteen  hundred  feet  to  the  lowland.  At  ir¬ 
regular  intervals  there  shoot  out  into  the  flat  country 
long  spurs,  like  a  series  of  wings.  The  intervening 
gorges  are  as  rugged  and  shaggy  as  the  wildest  part 
of  the  Sierras.  Cliffs  and  crags  alternate  with  densely 
wooded  slopes  or  boulder  strewn  clearings.  Here  and 
there  a  ruined  cabin  clutches  the  steep  slopes.  It  is 
on  one  of  these  precipitous  mountain  sides  that  the 
Devil’s  Den,  where  the  outlaws  were  first  said  to  have 
hidden,  but  didn’t,  is  situated.  To  search  this  south¬ 
ern  slope  for  a  distance  of,  say,  fifteen  miJos,  would 
take  a  force  of  fifty  thousand  men. 


TKE  ALLaN  ®UTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

Pursuit  of  the  Last  of  the  Allen  Outlaws  and  Their 
Clever  Evasion  of  Arrest— Bloodhounds  Still 
On  the  Trail — Nearing  the  End  the  Detec- 
tives’  Belief. 

Close  in  pursuit  of  the  last  remaining  fragment  of 
the  Allen  gang,  the  detectives  and  local  officers  of  the 
State  of  Virginia  have  lost  no  effort  or  sacrificed  any 
personal  risk  to  complete  their  capture  of  all  the  des¬ 
peradoes  concerned  in  the  Courthouse  massacre,  and 
as  this  chapter  closes  the  end  is  in  sight. 

Aside  from  the  local  application  of  this  crime  and 
story,  it  is  the  “beginning  of  the  end’^  of  the  lawless 
regime  which  has,  strange  to  say,  so  long  existed  in 
the  mountainous  regions  of  the  States  of  Virginia, 
West  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  where  by 
what,  these  mountaineers  have  been  by  tradition  and 
precept  led  to  believe  they  were  free  to  do  as  they 
pleased  in  the  domain  which  they  consider  God-given 
to  them. 

When  men  have  failed  to  trail  these  two  outlaws 
through  the  countless  winding  paths  of  the  mountain 
forests,  perhaps  the  more  sagacious  beasts  of  the 
canine  species  arc  doing  better  work.  The  blood- 


h  '  ' 

lilililiii 


IllSIiHW 

'■■■•;■■  :'•  '• 

di]i  i'  i '' 

liitfiiiili!* 

i  ‘ 

>  vftO*  A  j 


.  I 


'Jt  <  V-' 

C'  '•,*<'■' 


,W^X’ 


140 


r**  ALLElf  OUTLAWS 


hounds  still  on  the  trail  are  gradually  leading  the  pur¬ 
suing  parties  to  the  last  stand  of  the  pursued. 

The  failure  of  these  marvelous  animals  for  days 
has  not  been  due  to  any  fault  of  theirs,  but  by  reason 
of  heavy  rains  the  scent  of  the  fugitives  was  fre¬ 
quently  destroyed  and  picked  up  again,  with  more  or 
less  certainty  by  the  dogs,  which  were  more  or  less 
persistent  in  their  efforts  to  follow  the  trail  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  it  was  no  longer  new,  arid  these  animals 
were  handicapped  by  manifold  difficulties  in  the  pur¬ 
suit  of  their  prey. 

Bloodhounds  are  the  most  persistent  and  patient 
ever  known  when  on  the  trail.  They  will  follow  it 
until  they  die  of  exhaustion  before  they  will  ever  give 
it  up.  They  fear  nothing  in  human  form,  but  as  a 
rule  do  not  attempt  violence  on  the  object  of  their 
pursuit.  They  seek  rather  to  locate  than  destroy,  and 
if,  as  in  the  old  slavery  days,  when  fugitive  negroes 
were  pursued  by  whole  packs  of  them  numbering 
often  thirty  or  forty,  sometimes  into  the  swamps  or 
forests,  all  the  fugitive  slave  had  to  do  was  to  climb 
a  tree  and,  surrounded  by  the  howling  horde  of 
-hounds,  calmly  await  the  arrival  of  his  master  and 
the  posse,  who,  perhaps,  administered  a  good  licking 
on  his  bare  back  and  that  was  the  finale  of  it  all. 


TIKE  ALL£N  Q^TLAWS 


141 


CHAPTER  XXX 

Nearing  the  End  of  a  Desperate  Chase  That 
Startled  the  Entire  South — A  Moonshiner’s 
Story  of  Meeting .  the  Clansmen — The  Finish 
Nearly  in  Sight. 

The  story  of  the  first  shot  fired  upon  Sidna  Allen 
and  Wesley  Edwards,  and  their  narrow  escape  from 
being  laid  low,  was  brought  from  the  mountains  April 
2  by  a  posse  of  men  returning  to  Hills ville  for 
supplies. 

Alexander  Divins,  who  has  a  farm  between  Fancy 
Gap  and  Ward’s  Gap,  was  aroused  at  i  o’clock  in  the 
morning  by  hearing  a  man  moving  about  near  his 
corn  crib.  In  a  few  minutes  there  was  the  sound  of 
another  man  approaching.  The  two  met  and  talked 
for  a  brief  time  in  an  undertone. 

“Who’s  there?  What  do  you  want?”  called  Divins 
from  a  window. 

There  was  no  reply,  but  suspecting  that  the  men 
were  Allen  and  Edwards,  Divins  shouted:  “If  you 
don’t  answer,  I  will  shoot,”  Still  there  came  no  reply. 
Divins  seized  his  shotgun  and  raised  his  window 
higher.  The  noise  of  this  alarmed  the  prowlers.  Two 
figures  ran  out  of  the  darkness  across  a  little  clear 


142 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


patch  lighted  by  the  moon’s  rays.  The  farmer  fired, 
but  missed.  He  gave  the  fleeing  figures  a  second  bar¬ 
rel,  but  they  did  not  stop.  Then  he  turned  lose  his 
dogs,  which  followed  them  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile. 
The  tracks  which  they  found  later  led  into  the  woods. 
The  shoes  of  the  outlaws  which  are  carried  by  the 
posse  men  fitted  the  prints  in  the  muddy  soil. 

Tom  Strickland,  another  farmer  whose  place  is 
between  the  two  gaps,  and  who  knows  Sidna  Allen 
by  sight,  saw  that  clansman  in  the  moonlight  late 
Sunday  night  skulking  along  the  edge  of  the  woods 
beyond  some  cleared  land.  Strickland  watched  him 
until  he  passed  out  of  sight,  but  did  not  hail  him.  The 
detective  scouts  arrived  there  only  a  short  time 
afterward. 

It  is  believed  that  Allen  and  Edwards  had  been 
separated — possibly  from  the  time  when  they  were 
driven  out  of  Buzzard’s  Roost — and  that  Sidna,  when 
seen,  was  on  his  way  to  join  Wesley  on  the  Alex. 
Divins  place. 

The  returning  posse  men  also  brought  in  full  de¬ 
tails  of  the  first  face-to-face  meeting  between  Sidna 
All^n  and  persons  not  a  kinsman  or  ally.  Fayette 
Ayers,  known  to  be  a  moonshiner  and  blockader,  was 
the  one  who  encountered  the  desperado.  Ayers  said 
today : 

“1  was  crossing  the  mountain  when  I  saw  a  man 
coming  towards  me.  He  throwed  his  rifle  on  me  and 
said:  ‘Put  up  your  hands.’  I  did,  and  then  he  said, 
‘I’m  going  to  kill  you,  get  ready  to  die.’  I  said,  ‘I  ain’t 


TME  ALf.EN  OUTLAWS 


143 


done  no  harm  to  you/  He  said,  ‘you  know  who  I  am, 
don’t  you?’  I  told  him  ‘I  think  you  are  Sidna  Allen. 
But  I  never  said  a  word  agin  you,  Mr.  Allen,  and 
ain’t  going  to  begin  now.  Don’t  kill  me  Mr.  Allen.’ 

“He  had  his  rifle  raised  to  his  shoulder  all  this  time 
and  his  finger  was  on  the  trigger.  I  thought  any  min¬ 
ute  that  he  would  pull.  But  after  a  long  time  he  let 
his  gun  drop  by  his  side  and  said:  ‘All  right,  give 
me  that  weapon  you’ve  got  and  go  on  about  your  busi¬ 
ness.’  I  did  not  have  no  weapons  so  he  let  me  go. 

“He  was  a  terrible-looking  man,  with  his  beard 
grown  long  and  his  eyes  shining  in  the  dark  like  a 
wildcat.” 


V 


144- 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

Taking  the  Prisoners  to  Roanoke  Prison  Where 
They  Were  Held  to  Await  Trial — Despite  the 
Boast  of  Floyd  Allen  That  He  Would  Not  Go 
to  Jail,  He  Went  All  Right,  and  Without 
Resistance 

Old  Floyd  Allen  vowed  and  declared  that  he  would 
not  go  to  jail,  and  it  was  in  living  up  to  his  vow  that 
he  started  the  Hillsville  massacre,  but  he  went  to  jail 
anyhow  and  became  the  occupant  of  a  cell  in  the  city 
prison  at  Roanoke. 

After  a  12-hour  journey  Detectives  “Dan”  Baldwin 
and  Joseph  Fink  arrived  in  Roanoke  early  in  the 
morning  on  a  special  from  Hillsville,  having  in  charge 
Floyd  Allen,  who  is  wounded;  his  son,  Victor  Allen, 
and  “Bud”  Marion.  The  movements  of  the  train 
were  kept  exceedingly  quiet,  and  but  few  people  were 
aware  that  only  men  under  arrest  in  connection  with 
the  Hillsville  tragedy  v/ould  arrive  in  Roanoke.  Only 
newspaper  men  were  at  the  station  when  the  special 
pulled  in. 

Judge  Staples,  who  has  been  holding  Court  in  Hills- 
village  under  the  orders  of  the  Governor,  was  the  only 
passenger  on  the  special  outside  of  the  prisoners  and 
the  two  detectives. 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


145 


The  1 8-mile  trip  from  Hillsville  to  Blair  was  made 
in  a  carriage.  In  spite  of  his  wounds,  Floyd  Allen, 
stood  the  trip  well.  At  Blair  the  special  train  was 
waiting.  The  prisoners  and  two  detectives  traveled 
in  the  baggage  car  since  Floyd  Allen  had  to  occupy 
a  pallet. 

In  spitiTot^his  wounds  Floyd  Allen  w^as  carried  on 
a  stretcher  from  the  train  to  the  jail.  The  other  two 
prisoners  were  marched  to  jail  under  a  heavy  guard. 

At  the  jail  Floyd  Allen  had  little  to  say,  although  he 
answered  questions  in  a  polite  manner.  His  condi¬ 
tion  is  not  serious,  but  he  will  remain  under  a  guard, 
it  being  feared  he  will  attempt  to  end  his  life. 

Judge  Staples  accompanied  the  prisoners  to  jail  and 
turned  over  the  court  order  to  Deputy  City  Sargeant 
Allen,  who  then  took  the  men  to  the  cells.  They  each 
occupy  separate  cells  so  that  communication  may  be 
impossible  between  the  prisoners. 

Victor  Allen,  son  of  Floyd,  is  a  polite  young  man 
and  his  actions  and  answers  to  questions  are  not  what 
one  would  expect  from  a  man  charged  with  the  hide¬ 
ous  crime  with  which  he  is  connected.  When  asked 
how  his  father  was  getting  along  and  how  he  stood 
the  trip,  he  replied :  “He  is  pretty  peart.” 

When  Victor  Allen  and  “Bud”  Marion,  who  were 
handcuffed  together,  left  the  office  of  the  jailer  and 
were  escorted  to  their  cells  they  bid  Detective  Dan 
Baldwin  goodbye  and  said:  “Come  to  see  us  tomor¬ 
row.  Good  luck,  Mr.  Baldwin.” 


146 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


The  stairway  leading  to  the  jail  is  steep  and  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  the  officers  got  the  stretcher 
carying- Floyd  Allen  up.  While  on  his  way  up  his 
wounded  leg  was  caught  and  he  cried  out  “You  are 
killing  me!”  Further  than  this  he  had  no  complaint 
to  make. 


TJRi:  ALL£N  ©UTLAWS 


H7 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

I 

The  Law  of  the  Mountains  the  Code  of  the  Allens — 
They  Ask  No  Aid  from  Court  or  Jury  in 
Avenging  Their  Grievances — The  Unwritten 
Code  Is  the  Six-Shooter,  and  It  Is  Used  When¬ 
ever  Circumstances  Warrant. 

The  Allens,  central  figures  in. Virginia’s  tragedy  of 
the  Courts,  have  been  pictured  as  uncouth,  wholly  illit¬ 
erate,  dare-devil  mountaineers.  Only  the  latter  descript¬ 
ion  entirely  fits.  They  are  not  as  remote  from  civiliz¬ 
ing  influences  of  some  of  the  feudists  of  Kentucky, 
nor  do  they  habitually  slouch  into  town  with  a  rifle 
over  thhe  shoulder.  But  they  are  of  dare-devils.  It 
has  been  the  family  creed  that  the  profaning  touch 
of  an  officer  of  the  law  must  not  be  laid  upon  an 
Allen.  If  the  law  wanted  an  Allen,  let  the  law  send 
word  to  that  Allen  and  he  would  come,  “as  a  moun¬ 
tain  genteman  should.” 

The  psychology  of  the  Hillsville  tragedy  is  fur¬ 
nished  in  the  words  of  old  Floyd  Allen,  who  slashed 
his  throat  soon  after  he  was  put  in  jail.  He  said: 
“Old  Floyd  Allen  ain’t  never  been  sent  to  prison  yet. 
There  ain’t  no  Judge  or  Sheriff  that’s  going  to  send 
him  thar  now.” 

He  uttered  almost  the  same  words  when  fudge 
A!a?'!^’e  sentenced  him  to  a  year  in  prison. 


14^  THE  <51  LSN  OUTLAW® 

The  full  story  of  what  transpired  in  the  dingy  little 
Carroll  county  Courthouse  may  never  be  written. 
But  this  much  is  believed  today :  It  was  not  the  out¬ 
burst  of  momentary  passion.  The  Allen  gang  shot 
as  one  man,  and  each  henchman  of  the  chief  who 
stood  at  the  bar  of  justice  selected  a  designated  vistim. 
Judge  Massie  fell  first,  shot  three  times.  He  lived 
long  enough  to  say  that  “Syd”  Allen  had  snuffed  out 
his  life. 

Floyd  Allen  himself  is  said  to  have  given  the  signal 
that  brought  out  the  pistols.  The  jury  had  found  him 
guilty  of  interfering  with  an  officer.  He  released  two 
of  his  nephews  whom  a  deputy  sheriff  attempted  to 
take  to  jail  on  a  petty  charge  of  disturbing  public 
worship  last  April.  Old  Floyd  beat  the  deputy  sheriff, 
and  Allen-made  law  had  once  mpre  scored  a  tempo¬ 
rary  triumph. 

The  setting  of  Virginia’s  tragedy  could  not  have 
been  located  in  a  more  isolated  spot  than  Hillsville. 
It  is  13  miles  from  any  railroad.  It  has  one  telephone 
line  that  connects  it  with  the  world  outside.  The 
Courthouse  sits  in  a  square,  and  in  front  of  it  stands 
a  monument  to  the  Confederate  dead.  The  Court¬ 
house  is  a  tpyical  country  affair,  built  of  red  brick. 

There  was  nothing  unusual  about  the  manner  in 
which  the  Allens  came  to  town  on  the  day  that  old 
Floyd  was  to  stand  trial.  Every  one  was  aware  of 
course,  of  the  Allen  creed  that  the  law  must  not  inter¬ 
fere  with  the  reign  of  the  band,  but  not  even  the  more 
timorous  expected  any  serious  trouble.  The  attorneys 


Tits  AiSSN  OUTLAW# 


149 


for  the  prisoner  are  said  to  have  assured  the  Judge 
and  Prosecutor  that  rumors  of  violence  were  un¬ 
grounded. 

They  reckoned,  however,  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  fires  of  hatred  that  smouldered  in  the  breast  of 
every  Allen,  who  reached  for  his  gun  as  old  Floyd 
stood  up  to  receive  his  sentence. 

Newspaper  correspondents  and  detectives  who 
flocked  to  Hillsville  expected  to  find  that  the  Allens 
lived  in  squalid  cabins,  as  do  some  of  their  more  un- 
fortionate  neighbors.  They  found  instead  that  the 
Allens  are  fairly  well  to  do,  and  that  some  of  them  are 
even  wealthy.  They  are  hospitable  and  live  well  for 
people  who  are  13  miles  from  a  railroad;  they  are  not 
unusual  folks — except  that  they  believe  that  the  law 
of  personal  retribution  should  rule  instead  of  the  icwVP 
made  by  legislatures. 

That  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  tragic  story 
of  Hillsville.  The  law  sought  to  penetrate  across  the 
mountain  ranges  and  to  take  hold  of  a  section  hitherto 
ruled  by  brute  force  and  what  the  Allens  term 
“manhood.” 

One  day  a  man  met  an  Allen  on  one  of  the  moun¬ 
tain  trails.  This  Allen  was  in  street  and  mountain 
parlance  “full.” 

“What  are  you  full  of?”  asked  the  traveler. 

“Full  of  moonshine  and  manhood,”  said  the  Allen. 
The  questioner  turned  out  and  gave  Allen  the 
roadway. 

Tn  their  own  minds  the  Allen  outlaws  ar**  heroes. 


t50  THE  ALLK?^  ©HTLAWS 

Whether  anybody  else  thinks  so  oi  lot,  concerns  th«m 
very  little.  They  believe  they  did  the  proper  thing- 
in  resisting  arrest  and  refusing  to  go  to  prison,  and 
they  have  a  perfect  right  to  do  as  they  please  and  to 
kill  anybody  -who  interferes  with  them  in  the  pursuit 
of  their  life  and  happiness.  They  do  not  recognize 
any  law  or  officers,  and  have  openly  declared  a  dozen 
times  since  their  tragic  affair,  that  they  will  yet  be 
freed  by  their  friends  and  comrades,  and  will  never 
go  to  prison  for  the  parts  they  took  in  the  Hillsville 
Courthouse  tragedy.  In  a  number  of  interviews  given 
out  by  the  members  of  the  gang  under  arrest  they 
justified  their  acts  and  said  they  -would  do  the  same 
over  again  if  the  conditions  again  occurred. 


B 


THE  ALLEN  QUTLAWS 


Jt5i 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

The  Pursuit  of  the  Allens  the  Most  Remarjcable 
Man  Hunt  of  Modem  Times — Sensational 
Surroundings  and  Conditions,  Together  With 
the  Use  of  Bloodhounds,  Added  to  the  Excite¬ 
ment  and  Public  Interest^ — Baldwin’s  Famous 
Sleuths  Scouring  the  Mountains  Day  and 
Night,  While  Sheriif’s  Officers  Were  Every¬ 
where. 

In  many  respects  the  manhunt  for  the  Allens  and 
their  gang  is  the  most  remarkable  in  the  history  of  the 
South,  and  although  men  have  been  trailed  in  tlie 
States  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  by  officers  of 
the  law,  there  has  never  been  such  a  great  chase  after 
a  gang  of  criminals  as  in  this  instance.  There  were 
many  unusual  conditions.  First  the  desperate  char¬ 
acter  of  the  crime  and  the  absolute  disregard  of  law 
and  order,  when  the  gang  shot  up  the  Courtroom  and 
slew  the  Judge  and  two  other  high  officials,  killing 
several  spectators  and  wounding  numerous  others. 

Much  misinformation  has  been  detailed  concerning 
the  Hillsville  murderers  since  the  tragedy  in  the  Court¬ 
room  that  brought  them^nto  the  limelight.  These 
men  are  not  the  typical  mountaineer  of  the  feudist 
type,  so  common  in  the  more  remote  mountain  coun- 


152 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


ties  of  West  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  They 
are  not  “our  contemporary  ancestors,”  uneducated, 
primitive  and  dating  their  traditional  hatreds  from 
the  Civil  War  or  even  from  as  far  back  as  the  Revo¬ 
lution.  They  are  not  the  descendants  of  escaped  bond- 
servants  and.  unassimilable  elements  of  the  early  Co¬ 
lonial  settlements. 

They  are  men  who  have  enjoyed  many  of  the  ad¬ 
vantages  of  the  average  rural  community.  Some  of 
them,  or  their  sons,  have  been  to  college.  Many  of 
them  are  wealthy,  few  of  them  have  not  been  beyond 
the  confines  of  their  counties.  No  mistaken  belief  that 
they  were  protecting  their  heritage  of  freedom,  or 
defending  themselves  against  oppression,  excuses  or 
palliates  their  crime.  They  have  set  themselves  up 
for  years  as  the  arbiters  of  their  own  destinies  in* 
those  mountains,  and  have  attempted  to  carry  terror 
into  the  hearts  of  all  who  might  oppose  them.  A  de¬ 
liberate  effort  to  dominate  their  territory  by  force 
has  led  steadily  up  to  the  crime  which  electrified  the 
country.  They  knew  what  they  were  doing,  and  were 
not  laboring  under  any  misapprehension  of  the  real 
nature  of  their  crime. 

Virginia  will  bring  every  one  of  them  to  account 
and  enforce  the  severest  penalty  the  law  allows  upon 
thm.  She  had  troops  enough  to  surround  with  an 
impenetrable  cordon  the  territory  in  which  they  were 
hiding,  but  not  enough  to  hunt  them  down  in  their 
refuge,  for  troops  are  not  equal  to  that  task. 

The  captured  outlaws  tell  many  stirring  stories  of 


Courthouse,  Hillsville,  Va. — Crowd  leaving  after  shooting. 


I54  ’rWf.  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 

their  several  narrow  escapes  from  their  pursuers 
before  capture  and  laugh  in  disdain  as  they  recall  the 
numerous  instances  in  which  they  wriggled  cleverly 
out  of  the  very  hands  of  the  pursuers.  One  instance 
was  at  Squirrel’s  spur,  in  the  heart  of  the  mountain 
wilds,  where  three  of  them  w^ere  in  a  cave,  the  en¬ 
trance  to  which  they  had  covered  with  bushes,  when 
a  squad  of  detectives  came  past  talking  loudly  of  their 
plans’  and  how  certain  they  were  of  capturing  them. 
They  lay  as  quiet  as  mice  and  after  the  bragging  offi¬ 
cers  had  left,  they  made  a  hurried  departure  and  took 
the  back  trail,  thus  keeping  on  increasing  the  distance 
between  themselves  and  the  officers.  They  were  later 
captured  by  another  posse,  which  came  upon  them 
unexpectedly  in  the  woods  and  forced  their  surrender 
at  the  points  of  a  dozen  rifles  and  revolvers.  While 
they  were  in  the  cave 'hiding  and  the  officers  were 
passing,  unsuspecting  their  close  proximity,  one  of 
their  number  proposed  they  shoot  into  the  posse  and 
kill  them  all,  but  wiser  heads  prevailed  on  them  not 
to  do  so  and  they  passed  on  unharmed. 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


155 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

Planned  to  Starve  Out  the  Two  Fugitives  Still  at 
Large — Detectives  Determine  to  Play  a  Wait¬ 
ing  Game— Believed  That  Lack  of  Food  Will 
Force  the  Outlaws  to  Surrender — Officers 
Think  They  Have  Them  Well  Surrounded. 

After  nearly  three  weeks  had  elapsed  since  the 
Hillsville  Courthouse  tragedy  and  all  but  two  of  the 
desperate  Allen  gang  had  been  captured  and  locked 
up  in  jail,  the  detectives  and  posses,  still  in  pursuit  of 
Si'dna  Allen  and  his  nephew,  Wesley  Edwards,  deter¬ 
mined  to  play  a  waiting  game  and  simply  starve  the 
two  outlaws  into  submission.  This  plan  was  agreed 
upon  after  the  officers  had  learned  positively  that  the 
two  men  were  being  supplied  with  food  by  relatives, 
and  in  order  to  cut  off  this  supply  several  arrests  were, 
made. 

April  3  Jordan  Edwards,  a  second  cousin  of  Sidna 
and  Wesley  Edwards,  was  brought  into  Hillsville  a 
prisoner  and  locked  up  in  the  jail.  Ele  is  charged 
with  harboring  and  secreting  the  fugitives  annd  sup¬ 
plying  them  with  food  and  other  comforts. 

The  arrest  was  made  by  Alfred  Baldwin,  one  of 
the  chiefs  of  the  agency  conducting  the  pursuit.  Bald¬ 
win  having  ridden  that  afternoon  to  the  Edwards ' 


Igf  THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 

home  in  the  Fancy  Gap  district  for  the  purpose  of 
serving  a  warrant  issued  by  Justice  of  the  Peace 
Thornton,  sworn  to  on  information  and  belief  by  Dep¬ 
uty  E.  C.  Payne,  one  of  the  detective  scouts. 

The  officer  charged  Edwards  with  a  felony.  Should 
conviction  ensue  the  accused  may  be  sentenced  to  the 
penitentiary  for  a  long  term  of  years  as  an  accessory 
after  the  fact  in  connection  with  the  Courthouse 
murder. 

Throughout  the  Fancy  Gap  district  there  are  two- 
score  or  more  families  of  direct  kin  of  the  Allen  out¬ 
laws  or  who  are  related  to  them  mere  or  less  directly 
by  rnarriage.  The  detectives  say  they  have  informa¬ 
tion  that  many  of  these  have  fed  and  harbored  the 
fugitives  during  their  mountain  wanderings.  The 
campaign  begun  recently  is  intended  as  a  warning  to 
them.  Should  it  not  be  heeded  other  relatives  of  the 
Allens  and  Edwardses  will  probably  be  arrested  in  a 
few  days.  The  detectives  have  determined  to  cut  off 
as  far  as  possible  the  fugitives’  sources  of  supply. 

Jasper  Allen  popularly  nicknamed  “Jack,”  the  father 
of  Friel  Allen,  youngest  of  the  imprisoned  clansmen, 
has  suffered  a  stroke  of  apoplexy  and  is  a  broken 
man.  Telephone  messages  received  by  Judge  D.  N. 
Bolen,  his  attorney,  report  that  the  stroke  has  left 
“Jack”  Allen  partially  paralyzed  and  has  deprived  him 
of  the  power  of  speech.  Devout  followers  of  the 
Primitive  Baptist  faith  in  Hillsville  are  commenting 
upon  how  heavily  the  hand  of  Providence  has  been 
laid  upon  this  hardy  old  leader  of  the  Allen  clan. 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


157 


.  His  wife  one  Sunday  persuaded  “Jack”  to  attend 
church  service  in  the  Baptist  meeting-house,  where 
his  brother,  Garland  Allen,  was  to  preach.  He  went 
with  her  and  during  his  brother’s  sermon  became  so 
affected  that  he  seemed  to  lose  his  self-control.  He 
began  to  cry,  to  mutter  to  himself  and  to  talk  inco¬ 
herently.  Friends  got  him  out  into  the  air  and  drove 
him  to  his  home  before  he  collapsed  completely. 
There  he  suffered  a  period  of  semi-consciousness  and 
then  apparently  rallied  slightly,  but  he'  had  lost  the 
power  of  speech  and  showed  other  evidences  of  a 
partial  paralysis  as  the  result  of  a  slight'  cerebral 
hemorrhage.  He  is  about  55  years  old  and  has  been 
j  one  of  the  sturdiest,  physically,  of  the  Allen  clan. 

In  his  time  “Jack”  Allen  has  beaten  more  that  a 
score  of  men  brutally  and  his  gun  adventures  would  fill 
a  volume,  one  of  the  most  repellant  chapters  of  which 
would  have  to  deal  with  his  duel  with  his  brother 
Floyd.  ,  He  shot  five  bullets  into  the  latter’s  body, 
aiming  the  last  two  as  he  lay  on  the  ground  half 
blinded  by  the  hemorrhage  from  a  pistol  ball  which 
had  ploughed  a  furrow  through  his  scalp  from  fore¬ 
head  to  crown. 

The  hand  of  God  and  the  vengeance  of  man  have 
truly  been  laid  heavily  on  the  Allen  gang,  and  the 
swiftness  with  which  justice  pursued  them  after  the 
battle  in  the  Courtroom  shows  conclusively  that  the 
day  of  the  outlaw  is  past  forever,  and  that  lawlessnesi 
must  be  obliterated  at  any  cost.  The  prompt  action 
of  Governor  Mann  in  offering  large  rewards  fc  r  the 


158 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


capture  of  the  outlaws,  dead  or  alive,  together  witx 
the  great  tidal-wave  of  public  indignation  that  arose, 
caused  many  to  take  up  the  pursuit,  and  it  has  never 
been  relaxed  a  single  moment  from  the  time  it  was 
commenced.  Doggedly,  determinedly  and  systemat¬ 
ically  the  trailing  of  the  outlaws  has  been  carried^  out, 
even  bloodhounds  being  employed  to  aid  in  striking 
the  trail,  and  day  and  night  the  pursuit  went  on  until 
all  but  the  last  two  of  the  gang  have  been  brought  to 
-justice.  The  one  thing  that  did  most  to  defeat  the 
officers  was  the  loyalty  to  the  gang  of  their  relatives. 
Despite  the  big  rewards  these  sturdy  mountain  people 
were  dumb  as  oysters  when  it  came  to  giving  any 
information  regarding  the  whereabouts  of  the  fugi¬ 
tives,  and  not  the  slightest  particle  of  information 
could  be  in  any  manner  gotten  out  of  them. 

That  they  knew  of  the  whereabouts  of  the  mtlaws, 
the  detectives  were  fully  aware  and  that  tlitj'  werc^ 
being  suppied  with  food  by  these  relatives  and  friends 
was  also  an  assured  fact,  but  despite  all  their  cunning 
and  watchfulness  the  officers  were  unable  to  gain  the 
merest  scrap  of  information  or  catch  even  one  of 
them  “with  the  goods.”  It  is  supposed  their  opera¬ 
tions  for  and  meetings  with  the  two  remaining  out¬ 
laws  have  been  principally  accomplished  of  nights, 
but  despite  th^  fact  that  the  detectives  shadowed 
several  of  them,  nothing  come  of  the  surveillance^  and 
no  evidence  against  them  was  securred.  Determined, 
however,  to  cut  off  their  food  supply,  the  detectives 
arrested  several  of  the  most  active  of  them  on  sus- 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 

picion  and  they  will  be  held  in  jail  without  bail  long 
enough  for  the  outlaws  to  be  starved  into  submission. 
At  least  that  was  the  plan  of  the  officers,  until  they 
could  devise  a  better  one  for  getting  the  two  fugitive^ 
into  the  toils. 


r- 


\ 


TILS  '.LLEN  ©UfTLAWfe 


i6o 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

The  Criminal  Records  of  the  Allens  and  Hov/  They 
Earned  Them — Secret  Service  Agent  Who 
Knows  Them  Well  Joins  in  the  Chase  and 
Matches  Their  Cunning — ^Interesting  Story  of 
Their  Lives  and  Doings. 

United  States  Secret  Service  Agent  H.  E.  Thomas, 
who  lives  at  Allisonia,  Va.,  knows,  the  Allto  gang  well 
and  also  has  their  complete  criminal  records.  As  soon 
as  he  heard  of  the  outbreak,  he  joined  the  official 
forces  in  the  pursuit  of  the  men. 

Thomas  worked  up  the  counterfeiting  case  against 
Sidna  Allen,  leader  of  the  gang.  At  that  time  the 
Allen  brothers  made  several  attempts  to  kill  him,  and 
his  intimate  knowledge  of  the  gang  alone  prevented 
them. 

Secret  Service  Agent  Thomas  describes  the  Allens 
as  well-to-do  but  notorious  for  their  crimes  and  blood¬ 
shed.  He  believes  Sidna  Allen  will  never  be  taken  alive 
and  that  the  price  of  $300  on  the  head  of  each  of  the 
Allen  gang  “taken  dead  or  alive”  will  soon  result  in 
the  extermination  of  these  outlaws  who.  have  terror¬ 
ized  the  mountains  about  the  Carroll  county  for 


fHE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


i6i 

more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Thomas  knows 
their  haunts  and  knows  the  mountain  trails  and  cav¬ 
erns  equally  as  well  as  they  do,  and  his  assistance  is 
counted  upon  as  very  valuable  by  the  State  authorities. 

The  Allen  family  is  well  known  by  United  States 
officers.  They  have  always  been  considered  desperate 
and  have  engaged  in  frequent  clashes  with  officers. 
Floyd  Allen  boasted  of  carrying  13  bullet  holes  in  his 
body,  five  of  which  he  said,  were  put  there  by  a 
brother.  He  related  that  he  and  a  brother  engaged 
in  a  pistol  duel,  both  falling  with  the  first  fire  and 
then,  while  prostrate,  emptied  their  revolvers  into  each 
other.  Both  later  recovered  and  settled  their  many 
grievances. 

Sidna  Allen  was  sentenced  by  Judge  Boyd  to  two 
and  a  half  years  in  the  Federal  prison  at  Atlanta. 
Quite  recently  the  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals,  sitting 
at  Richmond,  ordered  a  new  trial.  Allen  was 
first  tried  with  Preston  Dinkers  on  a  charge  of  coun¬ 
terfeiting,  Dinkers  was  convicted  and  Allen  was 
acquitted,  the  former  getting  a  five-year  sentence. 

Later  District  Attorney  A.  E.  Holland  had  Allen 
indicted  for  perjury  in  connection  with  his  testimony 
in  the  counterfeiting  case  and  he  was  tried  a  year  ago. 
At  the  time  the  four  brothers  were  present  and  during 
the  two  days  of  the  trial  thev  occupied  front  seats  in 
the  Courtroom.  One,  Lloyd  Allen,  was  frequently 
found  loitering  in  the  Marshal’s  office,  and  was  appar¬ 
ently  bent  upon  gaining  the  friendship  of  the  office 
attaches. 


i6s 


tHE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


During  the  trial  information  was  given  the  United 
States  Marshal  that  before  leaving  Floyd  county ,Va., 
for  the  trial  of  his  brother,  Allen  said  that  Sidna 
should  never  be  carried  to  jail  alive.  Upon  this  infor¬ 
mation  the  Marshal  took  special  precautions  to  pre¬ 
vent  a  demonstration  and  during  the  trial  the  brothers 
were  kept  under  close  surveillance.  When  the  jury's 
verdict  of  guilty  was  brought  it  and  Judge  Boyd 
passed  sentence,  an  extra  force  of  officers  was  sta¬ 
tioned  in  the  Courtroom  and  every  precaution  was 
taken  to  see  that  the  Allens  did  not  attempt  a  demon¬ 
stration.  Immediately  after  sentence  was  passed  the 
appeal  was  taken,  and  the  brothers,  with  other  moun¬ 
tain  friends  present,  made  security  for  the  appeal 
bond. 

Strong  military  force,  to  be  followed  by  a  perma¬ 
nent  army  of  occupation,  composed  of  missionaries, 
teachers  and  social  workers,  is  the  only  solution  of 
conditions  in  the  lawless  “moonshine"  district  of  Vir¬ 
ginia,  according  to  Rev.  Isaac  Cannaday,  who  has 
made  a  close-range  study  of  people  and  conditions 
there.  Rev.  Mr.  Cannaday  is  a  Lutheran  missionary, 
who  is  on  a  furlough  in  this  country  after  a  nine 
years’  service  at  Guntur,  India.  Before  going  to 
India  he  preached  for  two  Summers,  while  a  student, 
at  Willis,  in  Floyd  county,  and  at  Galesboro,  in  Carroll 
county,  Va.  He  has  recently  returned  from  a  visit 
to  Hillsville,  Va.,  where  he  was  the  guest  of  Capt. 
W.  H.  Sutherland,  for  many  years  clerk  of  the  court 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


163 


Captain  Sutherland’s  successor  was  one  of  the  men 
shot. 

“There  are  two  classes  of  people  up  there  in  those 
mountains,”  said  Rev.  Mr.  Cannaday.  “One  class  is 
law-abiding,  but  the  other  class  holds  to  the  idea  that 
no  law  has  a  right  to  stop  them  from  making  whiskey. 
All  classes  have  a  deep  religious  feeling,  but  the  moon¬ 
shiners  are  ignorant  and  superstitious. 

“Nothing  short  of  military  force  will  ever  break  up 
their  trafiic  in  illicit  whiskey.  This  has  been  going  on 
for  many  years,  but  no  great  progress  in  other  ways 
can  be  made  among  them  until  this  has  been  stopped. 
In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  whole  trouble  is  due  to 
the  violations  of  Federal  laws,  the  Federal  Govern¬ 
ment  should  undertake  to  see  that  these  laws  are  en¬ 
forced.  After  this  traffic  is  stopped,  then  the  home 
missionary  agencies  of  the  churches  of  the  country 
should  concentrate  their  forces  there,  so  as  to  reach 
every  person. 

“The  people  of  Galesboro  are  among  the  finest  I 
have  ever  known,  and  even  the  moonshiners  are  ten¬ 
derhearted  and  have  a  deep  devotion  for  religion. 
With  teachers,  missionaries,  nurses  and  social  service 
workers  they  could  be  regenerated  in  one  generation. 
The  whole  country  should  applaud  the  heroism  of  the 
jurors  who  did  their  duty  although  they  knew  tliey 
might  be  killed  for  doing  it.” 


164 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

The  Allen  Gang  Bid  Defiance  to  Governor  Mann 
and  All  the  Officers  of  the  State  of  Virginia, 
But  That  Does  Not  Prevent  Their  Capture 
and  Imprisonment  on  the  Charge  of  Murder. 

Hillsville  was  recently  excited  over  the  news  that  a 
party  of  the  Allens  or  their  sympathisers  rode  to  a 
point  within  thre  miles  of  town  and  placed  a  notice  of 
their  own  beside  the  Governor’s  posted  proclamation 
offering  rewards  for  the  wanted  clansmen,  dead  or 
alive. 

This  is  the  notice  said  to  have  been  posted: 

“WE  WILL  GET  YOU  FIRST.'” 

To  those  who  have  made  it  their  concern: 

‘We  have  plenty  of  arms  and  bullets.  We  know 
how  to  use  them.  These  hills  are  an  unhealthy  place 
for  strangers  to  visit.  Remember  this.  You  can  get 
us  in  the  end,  maybe,  but  we  will  get  you  first.” 

It  is  said  that  there  were  a  dozen  or  more  in  the 
party  which  posted  this,  but  whether  or  not  any  of 
the  men  charged  with  the  Courthouse  murders  were 
there  nobo'dy  seems  to  know. 

Governor  Mann  received  the  news  of  the  defi  very 
calmly  and  predicted  the  speedy  arrest  of  the  men, 
and  his  prediction  soon  came  partly  true.  He  had 
Judge  Waller  R.  Staples,  Roanoke,  who  is  sitting  in 
the  Court  of  Hillsville,  having  come  on  the  train  which 


I 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


165 

brought  Floyd  Allen,  Victor  Allen,  and  Merrion,  one 
of  the  Allen  gang,  to  the  city  of  Roanoke  for  safe¬ 
keeping.  After  the  Judge  left,  Governor  Mann  said: 

Judge  Staples  told  nie  that  he  did  not  know  where 
Detective  Felts  and  his  men  were,  but  that  he  knew 
they  were  on  the  trail  of  the  Allens,  and  that  they 
had  been  since  early  the  day  before  I  saw  him.  That 
the  men  have  been  traced  to  some  stronghold  in  the 
mountains  is  the  impression  left  on  me  by  Judge 
Staples. 

‘The  detectives  have  taken  into  custody  Garland 
Allen,  the  preacher  brother  of  the  Allens,  and  they 
took  him  along  with  them  to  Sidna  Allen’s  house. 
When  the  officers  got  to  that  place,  however,  they 
found  no  one  in  the  house.  It  was  possibly  due  to 
this  that  the  report  started  that  Sidna  Allen  had  been 
shot  and  his  wife  killed. 

“Thirty-six  indictments  have  been  returned  against 
nine  of  the  men  engaged  in  the  shooting,  but  the  ab¬ 
sence  of  a  witness  prevented  the  indictment  of  the 
tenth  man,  and  this  case  will  be  taken  up  when  the 
Court  reassembles  to  take  up  the  indictments  which 
have  already  been  returned  against  the  Allens,  the 
Edwardses,  the  man  Merion  and  others. 

“I  am  hourly  expecting  news  from  the  section,  and 
just  the  moment  it  comes  it  will  be  given  to  the  public. 

I  am  more  and  more  convinced  that  there  is  no  neces¬ 
sity  for  the  presence  of  any  soldiers  in  that  county. 
This  is  in  accord  with  what  the  officers  them 
selves  say.” 


i66 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

Local  Views  on  the  Allen  Gang — Mistaken  and 
Misplaced  Sympathy  May  Save,  the  Younger 
Outlaws — Press  and  Public  Against  Any 
Maudlin  Feeling  in  Their  Behalf — Gov.  Mann 
Promises  All  Shall  Be  Severely  Punished. 

When  young  Claude  Allen’s  hands  went  up  before 
the  muzzles  of  a  couple  of  Winchesters,  each  held  a 
big  revolver.  He  was  ready  to  fight.  His  captors 
got,  the  drop  on  him ;  that  was  all. 

The  time  will  come  when  considerable  mistaken 
sympathy  will  be  shown  for  this  young  man.  In  a 
sense  it  has  already  appeared.  The  press  has  been 
filled,  side  by  side  with  its  scareheads,  with  accounts 
of  the  rugged,  simple  existence  the  mountaineers  of 
the  Blue  Ridge  live,  ignorant  rather  than  defiant  of 
the  law. 

It  is  an  easy  atmosphere  of  romance  and  untutored 
freedom  to  weave,  this.  But  those  who  know  the 
true  conditions  best  seem  little  inclined  to  place  even 
the  flimsie.st  halos  on  the  Allens’  heads. 

From  two  cities  of  North  Carolina  and  Kentucky, 


Interior  of  Courtroom  at  Hillsvillc,  Va.,  showing  how  the  shooting  occurred. 


t68 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


between  which  lies  the  range  of  the  feudists  and  both 
of  which  know  them,  come  these  testimonials  to  the 
character  of  the  romantic  desperadoes. 

Says  the  Charlotte  Observer : 

“Being  largely  a  special  class,  intermarrying  among 
themselves,  the  degeneration  of  their  already  evil 
qualities  went  on  apace.  Many  generations  of  vicious¬ 
ness  and  crime  are  behind  the  men  who  murdered 
Judge  Massie  on  the  bench.  It  is  a  pity  that  such 
men  cannot  be  exterminated  as  the  poisonous  reptiles 
they  are;  but,  pending  the  day  when  railroads  and 
good  wagon  roads  shall  have  reversed  the  age-long 
forces  of  heredity  and  environment  which  have  molded 
them,  we  can  at  least  avoid  their  getting  themselves 
regarded  as  heroes  and  we  can  punish  their  outbreaks 

more  sternly-  than  before.” 

And  this  is  the  mountaineer  as  Colonel  Watter- 
son’s  Louisville  Courier-Journal  sees  him: 

“As  a  rule,  he  drinks  to  excess  and  performs  most 
of  his  deeds  of  lawless  daring  when  well  ‘keyed  up’ 
with  whiskey.  He  can  usually  be  procured  to  commit 
crimes  against  individuals  with  whom  he  has  no  differ¬ 
ence.  The  bullies  who  ride  at  the  back  of  a  moun¬ 
tain  leader  are  often  as  closely  related  by  ties  of  bood 
or  marriage  to  a  prospective  victim  of  their  rifles  as 
to  the  man  who  has  enlisted  them  in  his  support. 
Every  kind  of  immorality  flourishes  among  the  pro¬ 
fessional  ‘bad  men.’  It  has  been  shown  by  several 
investigations  of  recent  years  that  the  use  of  morphine 
and  other  drugs,  in  addition  to  whiskey  drinking,  is 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS  I69 

fairly  common  among  these  men,  even  in  remote 
sections.” 

The  Allens  and  their  fellows  are  exponents,  not  of 
liberty  but  of  lawlessness.  And  now  that  some  of 
them  are  being  brought  within  the  rules  of  civilization 
not  one  word  of  pity  need  be  wasted  on  them. 


i70 


XHE  ALLirr  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XXXVm 

The  Loyalty  of  the  Mountain  Women  and  Their 
Bravery  in  the  Hour  of  Danger — Most^f 
Them  Can  Ride  and  Shoot  as  Well  as  the  Men 
and  Are  as  Daring — Many  of  Them  Aid  in  the 
Making  of  Moonshine  Whiskey — Perfect  Ama- 
zons»  They  Know  Every  Mountain  Trail  and 
Give  Revenue  Officers  Lots  of  Trouble. 

This  story  of  the  rnountaineers  of  Virginia  would  be 
incomplete  were  not  a  chapter  on  the  character  of 
the  women  of  that  wild  region  included. 

The  women  ar^  pretty  much  like  the  men  in  bravery, 
hardihood  and  nerve,  and  there  is  little  difference 
when  it  comes  to  a  fight  which  sex  takes  part.  Most 
of  the  women  are  daring  riders  of  wild  and  danger¬ 
ous  horses  and  nearly  every  one  of  them  can  shoot 
as  well  as  a  man.  They  are  high  spirited  and  maintain 
the  same  ideas  about  personal  liberty  as  do  their  out¬ 
law  brothers,  husbands  and  relatives  of  the  male  sex. 
They  believe  the  mountains  belong  to  them  and  they 
dare  anybody  to  dispute  the  assertion.  They  nearly 
all  belong  to  church  and  profess  religion,  yet  any  one 
of  them  will  draw  a  bead  on  a  suspected  stranger  as 
quick  as  lightning.  They  take  part  in  the  manufac- 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


I7I 


* 

ture  of  the  illicit  “moonshine”  whiskey,  and  in  not  a 
few  instances  partake  of  it  as  well.  They  are  loving’ 
and  devoted  wives  and  sweethearts,  and  will  willingly 
lay  down  their  lives  for  their  loved  ones,  but  they 
are  independent  in  the  highest  degree,  permitting  no 
one  to  dictate  to  them  or  rule  them  with  anything  but 
kindness.  They  are,  as  a  rule,  excellent  cooks,  neat 
housekeepers  and  loving,  attentive  mothers  and  wives, 
but  they  are  just  the  opposite  away  from  home,  and 
if  a  stranger  happens  to  start  something,  he  would  be 
as  likely  to  get  a  bullet  from  a  woman’s  gun  as  from 
her  husband’s.  Some  of  these  mountain  girls  are 
very  pretty,  despite  the  tanned  and  weatherbeaten 
complexions,  and  nearly  every  one  of  them  is  tall, 
slender  and  a  perfect  specimen  of  womanhood.  They 
are  radical  in  all  their  opinions  and  stpong  in  the  luvt 
or  hatred.  They  will  give  their  last  penny  to  a  loved 
one  just  as  quickly  as  shoot  one  who  has  become  in¬ 
volved  in  a  family  feud.  They  fear  nothing  or  no¬ 
body,  and  woe  be  unto  the  mortal  who  tries  to  take 
advantage  of  their  sex  and  cow  them  into  submission. 
The  flash  of  a  big  Colt  and  a  44-caIiber  bullet  is  the 
usual  ending  of  the  attempt..  They  are  sagacious  and 
cunning  in  a  high  degree,  and  can  almost  smell  the 
approach  of  a  sheriff  or  revenue  officer.  They  keep 
the  men  constantly  posted  while  they  are  at  work  at 
the  moonshine  stills,  and  in  some  instances  have  intri¬ 
cate  codes  of  signals  to  warn  the  men  of  the  approach 
of  danger,  that  have  eternally  baffled  the  revenue  men 
and  Government  officers.  In  the  matter  of  attire  they 


172  THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 

•* 

are  surely  not  as  particiflar  as  the  woman  of  the  city, 
and  it  must  be  admitted  the  calico  gown  and  sun- 
bonnet  is  frequently  their  favorite  attire,  but  on  special 
occasions  they  dress  up  and  some  of  their  finery  is 
such  as  would  hardly  be  expected  in  mountain  wilds. 
Like  their  husbands  and  relatives,  they  are  of  varied 
fortunes,  and  while  some  of  them  are  very  poor, 
others,  like  the  Sidna  Allens,  for  instance,  live  in  fine 
houses  and  fare  on  the  best  that  money  can  buy. 
During  the  raid  on* this  gang,  the  women  have  been 
especially  vigilant  in  keeping  the  men  posted  as  to 
the  movements  of  the  officers,  and  the  latter  are  of  the 
opinion  that  they  would  have  captured  all  of  the 
refugees  long  ago,  if  their  women  had  not  kept  tip¬ 
ping  them  off  as  to  where  the  officers  were  and  in 
what  direction  --they  were  moving.  It  was  this  fact, 
together  with  that  of  the  relatives  of  the  outlaws 
keeping  them  well  supplied  with  food  and  blankets, 
that  caused  Governor  Mann  to  issue  a  special  procla¬ 
mation  calling  on  all  citizens  to  withhold  from  Sidna 
Allen  and  Wesley  Edwards,  the  only  two  uncaptured 
members  of  the  outlaw  troop  that  shot  up  the  Carroll 
County  Courthouse  nearly  a  month  ago,  and  promis¬ 
ing  prompt  prosecutions  for  any  persons  who  do 
assist  them. 

This  action  had  been  arranged  after  conferences 
with  the  heads  of  the  posses,  and  so  Detectives  Bald¬ 
win,  Payne  and  Edwards  rode  20  miles  into  the  Fancy 
Gap  section  and  arrested  Jordan  Edwards,  a  cousin  of 
Wesley  and  one  of  the  Allen  kinsmen,  and  locked  him 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


173 


up  on  a  charge  of  being  an  accessory  after  the  fact  to 
the  Courthouse  murder. 

With  the  backing  of  the  Governor  it  is  now.  ex¬ 
pected  that  raids  on  the  Allens,  who  populate  this 
district,  will  be  frequent.  The  detectives  claim  they 
have  been  hampered  in  their  hunt  by  false  clues  and 
trails.  They  are  certain  that  Allen  and  Edwards  have 
received  aid.  Without  it,  their  capture  is  a  question 
of  days. 


4 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 

Allen  Clan  Members  Still  Evading  Arrest  and 
Dodging  the  Detectives — Officers  Having  a 
Long,  Hard  Chase  After  the  Outlaws — Dan¬ 
gerous  Work  Trailing  Them  Among  the  Rocks 
and  Forests — Many  Clever  Tricks  Being 
Played  By  the  Crafty  Woodsmen  to  Escape 
Arrest. 

A  posse  of  detectives  and  deputy  sheriffs  raided  the 
Iift)mes  of  Floyd  Allen  and  the  Edwards  boys,  Floyd’s 
nephews,  in  the  Fancy  Gap  country.  Both  houses 
were’  deserted,  but  at  Floyd  Allen’s  the  detectives 
found  a  still  and  90  gallons  of  moonshine  whiskey. 
Two  more  stills  were  found  at  the  home  of  the  Ed¬ 
wards  boys.  These  discoveries  are  important,  because 
they  bring  the  Federal  Government  into  the  hunt. 
While  it  was  generally  known  that  the  Allens  sold 
moonshine  whiskey,  nobody  had  openly  accused  them 
of  making  it. 

The  discovery  of  three  stills  indicates  that  illicit 
distilling  was  probably  the  chief  source  of  their  wealth. 
It  explains,  too,  their  bitter  defiance  of  the  law.  , 

Under  Detective  Felts,  a  posse  is  pursuing  Sidney 
Edwards,  nephew  of  the  Allen  brothers  and  believed 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


175 


to  be  one  of  the  gang  that  shot  up  the  Courtroom. 
The  mountaineer  is  fleeing  as  fast  as  a  badly  burned 
foot  will  permit.  Surprised  by  the  approach  of  the 
detectives,  he  stepped  accidentally  in  a  big  caldron  of 
hot  corn  mash  at  his  “moonshine  still,”  and  being  bare¬ 
foot,  was  severely  burned. 

He  left  in  such  precipitate  haste  that  the  posse 
found  his  revolver  hanging  in  its  holster  on  the  wall 
of  his  mountain  cabin.  His  Winchester  was  missing, 
however. 

The  detectives  believe  that  the  outlaws  have  settled 
on  a  plan  of  action  for  the  campaign.  It  was  learned 
that  the  entire  clan  under  the  leadership  of  Sidna 
Allen  left  their  stronghold  and  gathcied  at  the  home 
of  Jack  Allen,  regarded  by  the  authorities  as  the  most 
dangerous  member  of  the  clan.  Here  the  subject  of 
action  was  discussed  and  it  was  decided  to  fight  to 
the  death. 

Jack  Allen  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  brainy  men  of 
the  clan.  It  is  believed  that  he  absented  himself 
from  the  raid  on  the  Courthouse  so  that  he  would  be 
free  to  move  about  the  country,  thus  being  of  immense 
assistance  to  his  brethren  and  able  to  look  after  their 
property  while  they  w'ere  defending  themselves  in  the 
mountains. 

That  the  Courthouse  murders  were  planned  in  ad¬ 
vance  and  everything  that  could  possibly  aid  in  carry¬ 
ing  out  of  the  plans  formed  for  the  wiping  out  of  the 
county  authorities  carefully  considered,  is  no  longer 
doubted  by  those  who  have  charge  of  the  prosecution 


176 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


of  the  State’s  case  against  the  accused  men.  It  is  said 
that  the  clan  even  wrote  to  Sheriff  Webb  telling  him 
that  unless  the  Court  officers  left  their  rifles  at  home 
the  Allens  would  not  appear  at  the  trial. 

Despite  the  advice  of  his  friends  the  sheriff  heeded 
the  clan’s  warning  and  at  the  trial  he  and  his  deputies 
were  armed  only  with  revolvers.  The  Allens  knew 
that  they  could  not  carry  rifles  into  Court  themselves 
and  they  planned  not  to  be  taken  at  any  disadvantage. 

Floyd  Allen  his  son  Victor  and  Bird  Marion,  in¬ 
dicted  by  the  grand  jury,  are  in  jail  at  Roanoke.  Floyd, 
who  has  made  many  threats  of  suicide,  is  under  close 
guard,  the  authorities  fearing  that  he  may  find  some 
means  of  carrying  his  threat  into  effect.  The  prisoners 
are  all  closely  guarded,  the  guards  being  changed 
every  three  hours.  On  the  orders  of  Judge  Staples 
no  one  is  allowed  to  have  any  communication  with 
the  prisoners. 

The  outlaws  realize  that  they  have  a  hard  task  be¬ 
fore  them.  It  is  admitted  that  the  band  might  remain 
in  the  thickly  wooded  mountains  indefinitely  and  that 
their  capture  will  only  be  accomplished  by  patient  work 
on  the  part  of  the  detectives.  It  is  the  plan  of  the 
detectives  to  proceed  cautiously  and  pick  off  the  out¬ 
law  band  one  by  one  until  all  have  been  captured  or 
killed. 

Meanwhile  the  State  authorities  were  planning  to 
cripple  the  Allens  in  another  manner  and  cut  off  their 
supplies.  It  was  announced  that  damage  suits  would 
be  immediately  instituted  ag^nst  the  Allens  by  the 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


177 


executors  of  the  estates  of  those  who  lost  their  lives 
as  a  result  of  the  shooting,  each  suit  being  for  $10,000. 
Besides  these  the  clan  members  will  have  to  answer  to 
seven  or  eight  suits  instituted  by  persons  who  were 
wounded  in  the  Courthouse  fight  or  in  the  fighting 
since  the  murder.  With  the  filing  of  the  suits  attach¬ 
ments  will  be  issued  against  the  property  of  the  Allens 
under  the  Virginia  law.  This  will  successfully  cut 
off  the  source  of  supply  of  the  band  and  handicap 
them  seriously. 

To  capture  all  the  outlaws  alive  will  be  the  aim  of 
the  State  authorities.  If  the  men  indicted  for  the 
murder  can  be  captured  and  brought  to  trial  and 
punished  by  the  State  it  is  believed  that  the  effect  in 
increasing  the  respect  for  the  law  among  the  moun¬ 
tains  of  Virginia  will  be  worth  the  price. 

Two  bands  of  detectives  and  deputies  about  40 
strong  are  looking  fdr  tlie  remaining  men  and  are  de¬ 
termined  to  get  them.  The  two  bands  are  working 
together  and  keeping  in  touch  with  each  other.  A 
pitched  battle  between  the  outlaws  and  detectives  is 
not  thought  to  be  probable. 

Members  of  the  posses  who  remained  in  the  bush 
all  night  had  planned  all  the  woodcraft  safeguards 
which  would  have  been  adopted  had  they  been  trail¬ 
ing  savage  Indians  rather  than  prosperous  Virginia 
mountaineers.  The  men  were  not  allowed  to  light 
a  camp-fire  for  fear  that  members  of  the  gang,  at¬ 
tracted  by  the  glow,  would  make  a  midnight  assault 
upon  the  detectives  and  shoot  them  as  tliey  slept. 


.78 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


A  cessation  of  the  Spring  rains  which  have  fallen 
almost  continuously  since  the  shooting  gave  the  posses 
an  advantage  of  better  roads.  The  guide  of  the  main 
band  of  man  hunters  is  a  half-breed  Indian,  who  is 
familiar  with  all  the  trails  of  the  North  Carolina 
border. 

With  the  waning  of  the  Allens’  star  as  the  result 
of  the  Courthouse  murder,  stories  of  members  of  the 
clan  Are  cropping  up  which  show  that  they  completely 
dominated  the  life  of  this  portion  of  the  State  for  the 
last  25  years.  The  clan  had  no  regard  for  the  law  or 
the  rights  of  others,  but  ruled  by  the  right  of  their 
rifles.  Through  their  peculiar  code  of  honor  that 
bound  them  to  aid  each  other  to  the  death  in  case  of 
trouble  the  Allens  were  able  to  hold  control  of  their 
little  principality  and  it  is  thought  will  go  down  with 
their  rifles  in  their  hands .  fighting  for  that  supremacy 
they  have  long  maintained.  ' 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


m 


CHAPTER  XXXX 

Searchers  Growing  Weary  of  the  Long  Vigil  and 
Hard  Riding  Over  the  Mountain  Trails — Will 
Be  Glad  When  the  Last  of  the  Ou  laws  Has 
Been  Captured  or  Killed  and  the  Great  Man 
Hunt  Ended  for  Good. 

It  was  another  false  scent  that  drew  into  the  moun¬ 
tains  nearly  every  man  of  this  section  that  could  ride 
a  horse  or  carry  a  gun. 

A  part  of  the  posse  returned  weary  and  dis¬ 
couraged,  and  reported  that  the  gang  had  not  been 
found  at  Chestnut  Ridge,  where  it  was  believed  to 
have  been  trailed. 

The  returning  posse  found  gathered  on  the  Court¬ 
house  green,  anxiously  awaiting  news  from  the  night 
sortie,  practically  every  woman  and  child  who  had 
been  left  behind  by  the  man-hunters.  It  was  with 
mingled  feelings  of  disappointment  and  relief  that  the 
families  of  the  lawful  members  of  the  community 
learned  that  the  outaws  had  not  been  encountered  or 
located. 

News  that  the  Allens  had  slipped  out  of  their  dis¬ 
covered  refuge  at  Squirrel’s  spur  and  reached  Chest¬ 
nut  ridge  were  brought  to  ITillsviile  by  a  mounted 
messenger.  Immediately  afterward  Detective  Felts, 


l8o  THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 

leader  of  the  searchers,  galloped  off  for  Chestnut  ridge 
at  the  head  of  a  band  which  included  even  the  men 
who  had  been  in  the  saddle  all  day. 

Sidna  Allen  is  said  to  have  been  seen  making  his 
way  down  the  trail  from  Squirrels  spur,  and  it  is 
believed  that  he  reached  the  Chestnut  ridge  section 
with  the  rest  of  the  wanted  men. 

People  here  think  that  but  for  their  refusal  to  de¬ 
sert  Sidna,  whose  wounds  prevent  him  from  under¬ 
taking  a  journey  of  any  length,  the  younger  members 
of  the  gang  before  this  would  have  made  their  way 
through  the  hills  and  started  West. 

A  friend  of  Mrs.  Sidna  Allen,  who  saw  the  wife  of 
the  outlaw  chief,  quoted  her  as  declaring  that  she  had 
no  idea  where  her  husband  was. 

'‘I  wish  to  God  I  did,”  she  told  the  friend.  “I  wish 
there  hadn’t  ever  been  a  gun  made.  I  left  our  house 
the  night  this  awful  thing  happened  before  my  hus¬ 
band  went.  He  told  me  to  do  everything  I  could  for 
our  two  little  girls  and  to  be  kind  to  his  dog  and  cat 
I  havn’t  seen  him  since;  havn’t  heard  a  word  from 
him.  I  don’t  know  where  he  is  or  how  to  reach  him; 
he  may  be  lying  exposed  with  his  wounds,  perhaps 
dying. 

“Whatever  he  did  in  county  Court,  I  believe  he  is 
now  truly  repentant  for  it,  but  he  won’t  give  up  unless 
I  appeal  to  him  for  our  children’s  sake.  No  father 
ever  loved  his  children  more,  nor  was  a  kinder  hus¬ 
band,  but  he  has  the  Allen  temper  and  that  caused 
all  this  trouble.” 


lilpllplii 


illllliliris 


Posse  of  Citizens  who  hunted  down  the  Allen  outlaws. 


tHE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


Mrs.  Allen  returned  to  her  home  and  has  been  en¬ 
deavoring  to  pursuade  a  nephew  to  open  her  husband's 
store,  closed  since  the  tragedy. 

Sidna  Allen  was  hurried  away  from  approaching 
pursuers  without  even  a  horse,  according  to  William 
T.  Quesinberry,  who  has  been  in  his  employ  for  years. 
Quesinberry  said  that  the  first  he  knew  of  the  shoot¬ 
ing  was  when  he  walked  into  Allen’s  home‘  to  find 
Sidna  on  the  couch  wounded  through  the  left  arm  and 
with  a  flesh  wound  in  the  stomach.  He  contradicted 
the  story  told  by  Mrs.  Allen  by  declaring  that  he  left 
the  husband  and  wife  together  and  when  he  came  back 
in  the  morning  both  were  gone. 

The  confiscated  moonshine  and  the  stills  captured 
at  the  Edwards  and  Allen  homes  was  brought  to 
Hillsville.  The  liquor  was  spilled  into  the  street  and 
the  still  burned. 

Responding  to  a  special  appeal  from  Governor 
Mann,  of  Virginia,  Governor  Kitchin,  of  North  Caro¬ 
lina  telegraphed  the  sheriffs  of  Stokes,  Surry  and  Alle¬ 
ghany  counties,  all  of  which  border  on  Carroll  county, 
Virginia,  to  take  every  step  possible  for  the  appre¬ 
hension  of  the  17  desperadoes  who  killed  the  Court 
officials  at  Hillsville,  Va.  In  his  telegram  asking  for 
assistance  Governor  Mann  said: 

“I  am  informed  there  were  17  of  the  desparadoes, 
and  that  they  are  making  their  way  to  the  North 
Carolina  mountains  adjacent  to  Carroll  county  line.,  I 
will  thank  you  to  have  North  Carolina  officers  look 
out  for  and  arrest  the  outlaws.” 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


183 

The  section  lying  along  the  border  of  Carroll 
county,  in  Virgrnia,  and  Stokes,  Surry  and  Allegheny 
counties,  in  North  Carolina,  is  a  wild,  mountainous 
country,  and  once  the  desperadoes  make  their  way 
into  the  caves  of  these  mountains  it  will  be  an  almost 
impossible  task  to  locate  and  capture  them.  Moon¬ 
shiners  thrive  in  these  mountains,  and  the  outlaws  will 
find  ready  reinforcements  if  they  are  forced  to  take  a 
stand  against  the  militia,  which  will  possibly  be  sent 
against  them. 

The  grand  jury  empaneled  by  Judge  Staples  made 
a  report  in  which  indictments  were  returned  against 
every  man  engaged  in  the  shooting  in  the  Courthouse. 

John  Moore,  one  of  the  supporters  of  the  Allen 
gang,  who  was  in  the  Courthouse  when  the  shooting 
took  place,  strolled  into  town  and  was  arrested  and 

locked  up. 

All  the  indicted  men  are  charged  with  murder  or 
being  accessories  to  murder. 


184 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


CHAPTER  XXXXI 

The  Trial  of  the  Outlaws  Will  Take  Place  When 
Public  Opinion  Has  Subsided  and  the  Last  of 
the  Allen  Gang  Brought  to  Jus' ice — The  Whole 
Gang  May  Go  to  the  Electric  Chair. 

That  the  entire  Allen  gang  may  expatiate  their 
crimes  in  the  electric  chair  of  the  State  prison  at 
Richmond  is  generally  predicted,  and  the  trial,  which 
will  take  place  in  due  time,  will  doubtless  take  place 
at  Hillsville,  in  the  very  same  Courthouse  where  the 
awful  massacre  of  IVIarch  14  was  committed.  After 
a  long  conference  with  the  attorneys  and  State  offi¬ 
cials,  Judge  A.  A.  Campbell  made  the  following 
statement. 

“The  trial  of  Floyd  Allen  and  his  son  and  any  other 
of  the  Allens  will  take  place  here.  This  trial  will  be 
conducted  by  me  in  the  Carroll  county  court  where  the 
murder  of  Judge  Massie  and  other  court  officers  was 
perpetrated.  We  have  definitely  decided  to  try  the 
I  Allens  in  Hillsville,  the  scene  of  their  crime.  Difficulty 
will  doubtless  be  had  in  the  selection  of  a  jury,  but 
jurymen  will  be  impaneled  from  three  counties — Pu¬ 
laski,  Carroll  and  Grayson. 

“As  a  Judge,  I  cannot  further  discuss  the  case  ex¬ 
cept  to  say  that  the  prisoners  will  be  accorded  a  fair 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS  185 

trial.  They  will  be  regarded  as  innocent  until  they  are 
proved  guilty,  and  they  and  their  counsel  will  be  given 
every  opportunity  to  defend  themselves  and  prove 
themselv'es  innocent.  As  a  judge  of  the  State  of  Vir¬ 
ginia,  I  will  not  tolerate  any  attempt,  should  any  offi¬ 
cial  dare  to  make  it,  to  railroad  these  men  to  the  elec¬ 
tric  chair.  Further  than  that  I  do  not  feel  that  I 
should  with  propriety  discuss  a  case  over  which  I  must 
preside.” 

Attorney  Draper,  who  will  assist  in  the  prosecution, 
had  this  to  say: 

“The  evidence  against  Floyd  and  Sidna  Allen  is 
entirely  too  conclusive  to  question.  We  have  eyewit¬ 
nesses  of  the  tragedy  who  will  take  the  stand  and 
swear  that  Sidna  Allen  fired  the  bullet  which  killed 
Judge  Massie.  We  have  other  witnesses  who  will 
go  on  the  stand  and  testify  that  they  saw  Floyd  Allen 
shoot  and  kill  the  Sheriff.  No  plea  of  self-defense 
will  hold,  in  my  opinion.” 

Mr.  Draper  said  that  court  would  convene  and  then 
be  adjourned. 

“The  delay,”  he  said,  “is  for  two  reasons.  First  to 
give  the  detectives  a  chance  to  run  down  and  capture 
more  of  the  outlaws,  and  second,  to  permit  public  in¬ 
dignation  to  die  down.  There  will  be  no  question  of 
the  Allens  not  getting  a  fair  trial.  Their  every  con¬ 
stitutional  right  will  be  safeguarded  and  the  prosecut¬ 
ing  officers  will  make  it  a  point  to  see  that  they  get 
ample  justice  and  every  opportunity  to  defend 
themselves,” 


i86 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


S.  F.  Landreth,  appointed  District  Attorney  foi  Car- 
roll  county  to  succeed  the  late  Mr.  Foster,  said: 

‘‘  The  prosecution  will  be  rigorously  conducted,  but 
I  assure  you  that  the  Allens  will  get  a  fair  trial. 
Such  is  due  them  and  such  is  due  the  State  of  Vir¬ 
ginia.  Their  power  in  Carroll  county  is  broken  ^nd 
will  never  be  reasserted.’* 


THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 


187 


CHAPTER  XXXXII 

Narrow  Escape  From  Death  of  a  Mountaineer  Who 
Met  Sidna  Allen  Face  to  Face — Came  Near  Be¬ 
ing  Shot  by  the  Outlaw  in  Mistake  for  a  De¬ 
tective — He  Says  the  Outlaw  is  as  Spry  as  Ever 
and  Will  Put  Up  a  Terrible  Fight  if  He  is  Cor¬ 
nered. 

The  only  man  who  has  met  Sidna  Allen  face  to 
face  since  the  latter’s  escape  from  his  home  when  it 
was  raided  by  the  posse,  is  Lafayette  Ayers,  a  moun¬ 
taineer,  who  has  been  aiding  in  the  search.  Sidna 
Allen  is  not  as  helpless  as  has  been  reported  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  wounds  he  received  in  the  Hillsville  shoot¬ 
ing.  Ayers  came  face  to  face  with  Allen  in  a  path 
in  the  mountains  and  found  himself  covered  by  the 
outlaw’s  gun.  Allen  told  him  that  he  had  just  a  few 
rpinutes  to  live  as  he  intended  to  kill  Ayers  for  help¬ 
ing  the  authorities  in  the  chase.  Ayers  begged  for 
his  life  and  vigorously  denied  that  he  hae  given  the 
his  life  and  vigorously  denied  that  he  had  given  the 
detectives  any  help.  Allen  finally  let  him  off  and  told 
him  to  get  out  of  the  mountains  as  quickly  as  possible. 
Ayers  said  that  the  outlaw  was  in  no  way  handicapped 
by  his  wounds  and  is  alert  and  crafty  as  ever. 

The  meeting  occurred  about  five  miles  from  the 


r 


188  THE  ALLEN  OUTLAWS 

spot  where  the  detectives  had  drawn  their  cordoti 
around  the  supposed  hiding  place  of  the  outlaw.  It 
was  their  first  intimation  that  Sidna  had  eluded  them. 

Several  times  the  detectives  have  come  within  a  few 
minutes  of  catching  Wesley  Edwards,  The  discovery 
of  food  and  blankets  in  caches  have  convinced  the  pur¬ 
suers  that  they  were  close  on  his  trail,  and  once  he 
had  to  run  and  leave  his  blanket  and  food  supply  on 
the  ground,  so  close  were  his  pursuers. 

Three  miles  east  of  the  footpath,  where  Sidna  Allen 
was  encountered,  and  lying  within  the  shadow  of  Buz¬ 
zard’s  rock,  the  detectives  found  a  bed  of  leaves,  a 
new  blanket  and  some  provisions,  unmistakable  evi¬ 
dence  that  Edwards  had  spent  the  night  there.  Plenty 
of  food  has  been  found  in  different  places  in  the 
mountains  during  the  last  few  days,  showing  that  the 
outlaws  are  well  supplied. 

When  the  posse  took  the  trail.  Detective  Felts 
seemed  certain  that  the  long  chase  through  the  moun¬ 
tains  would  end  in  pitched  battles.  He  thinks  Allen 
and  Edwards  have  located  themselves  in  some  small, 
well  sheltered  cave  or  thicket,  and  while  without  food 
or  supplies,  have  determined  to  sell  their  lives  dearly. 
All  they  have  left  is  their  guns  and  ammunition. 


XH*  OUTI,AWS. 


CHAPTER  XXXXIII. 

With  all  the  others  of  the  desperate  gang  safely 
under  lock  and  key,  the  Virginia  authorities  more 
than  redoubled  their  efforts  to  capture  Sinda  Allen 
and  Wesley  Edwards,  who  were  still  at  large  despite 
the  constant  increase  in  the  number  of  their  pursuers 
and  the  thorough  scouring  of  the  wilderness  in  which 
they  were  supposed  to  be  hiding.  As  later  develop¬ 
ments  proved,  however,  they  were  searching  in  vain, 
for  while  they  thought  their  human  quarry  were  still 
at  hand,  they  were  in  reality  far  away  and  laughing 
in  their  sleeves  as  they  read  in  the  newspapers  of  the 
wild  pursuit  of  themselves  through  the  forests  and 
mountains  of  Virginia,  not  very  far  from  the  scene 
of  the  crime,  where  the  officers  supposed  them  to  be 
hiding  in  a  cave,  with  but  little  food  and  short  of 
ammunition.  Every  preparation  for  a  desperate  re¬ 
sistance  was  made  when  they  were  finally  cornered,  and 
that  it  was  to  be  a  battle  to  the  death  between  the  two 
outlaws'  and  the  officers  of  the  law,  nobody  doubted. 
But  the  entire  theory  was  wrong.  Instead  of  being 
in  hiding  in  a  cave  near  Buzzard’s  Rock,  where  they 
were  suspected  to  be,  both  outlaws  were  quietly  hid¬ 
ing  in  the  city  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  to  which  place 
they  had  made  their  way,  probably  on  freight  trains, 
and  when  finally  discovered  by  the  police  of  that  city, 
instead  of  being  a  desperate  resistance,  with  ample 
gun-play  and  bloodshed,  there  was  quiet,  peaceable 


190  ‘  THE  AliLEN  OUTLAWS. 

submission  and  surrender.  Their  arrest  occurred  on 
«  September  14th.  They  were  promptly  talcen  back  to 
the  scene  of  their  crime  and  placed  in  jail  to  await 
trial. 

These  interesting  trials  began  April  30th,  when 
Floyd  Allen  was  placed  in  the  prisoner’s  dock  charged 
with  the  murder  of  Commonwealth’s  Attorney  Foster, 
in  the  very  same  courtroom  in  which  he  had  fired  the 
fatal  shot  and  started  the  massacre  of  the  court’-s  ofii- 
cers.  He  was  convicted,  and  on  May  17th  sentenced 
to  death. 

Three  days  later,  on  May  20th,  the  trial  of  Claude 
Allen  began.  July  ist  he  was  found  guilty  of  second- 
degree  murder  and  given  15  years  in  States  Prison, 
but  his  counsel  made  motion  for  a  new  trial,  which 
after  some  delay  was  granted,  and  on  June  2nd  his 
second  trial  began.  This  resulted  in  a  disagreement 
cf  the  jury,  and  his  counsel  made  desperate  efforts  to 
prevent  his  being  brought  to  trial  again,  but  the  people 
were  so  incensed  with  the  crime  that  they  were  deter¬ 
mined  no  loophole  of  escape  should  be  opened  to  any 
one  of  the  gang  and  insisted  on  his  third  trial.  It  was 
July  19th,  and  at  its  conclusion  proved  a  fatal  error 
on  the  part  of  himself  and  his  counsel  in  not  accept¬ 
ing  the  verdict  and  sentence  imposed  at  his  first  trial, 
for  on  this  his  third  trial  he  was  found  guilty  of  mur¬ 
der,  in  the  first  degree  and  sentenced  to  death  in  the 
electric  chair. 

September  iSthj  the  trial  of  Sidna  Edwards  and 
Friel  Allen  were  concluded,  and  they  were  each  sen¬ 
tenced  to  18  years  in  prison. 

'  September  23rd  Sidna  Allen  and  Wesley  Edwards 


THK  AI^tEN  OUTLAWS.  191 

were  arraigned.  Their  trials  were  long  and  sensational. 
Both  were,  however,  eventually^  found  guilty,  and 
Sidna  Allen  was  given  15  years  in  prison,  while  Wes¬ 
ley  Edwards  got  27  years  behind  the  bars. 

January  loth  a  petition  of  appeal  in  the  cases  of 
Floyd  and  Claude  Allen,  then  in  States  Prison  at 
Richmond,  awaiting  execution,  were  filed  with  the 
Supreme  Court,  but  the  decision  was  against  them. 
Thev  were  respited  until  March  7th.  Still  another 
and  imal  appeal  was  made  to  Governor  Mann  for  com¬ 
mutation  of  sentence  to  life  imprisonment,  but  was 
sternly  refused,  and  March  28th  was  fixed  by  the  Gov¬ 
ernor  as  the  date  of  their  execution.  Accordingly  on 
that  date  father  and  son  marched  bravely  from  their 
cells  to  the  fatal  chair  in  the  dimly  lighted  execution 
chamber  and  went  to  their  deaths  without  a  murmur. 
Despite  their  crimes  and  the  lives  of  outlawry  they 
had  led,  there  is  none  can  say  that  they  did  not  die  like 
men  and  heroes. 

Of  all  the  gang  the  only  one  who  went  scott  free 
was  Victor  Allen,  one  of  the  younger  members  of 
the  famous  family,  who  was  acquitted  by  reason  of 
lack  of  evidence  against  him. 


ig2  ' 


TilE  AEEfiN  OUTLAWS. 


CHRONdL&tSir'dlJ^  f  HE  ALLEN  CASE. 


V4'  ' 

>  %  ‘ 

f 


1912. 


W^rch  14 — CarrrH  Circuit  Court  annihilated ;  five  killed. 

March  15 — FJoyd  and  Victor  Allen  placed  in 
March  22 — S'dna  Edwards  captured. 

March  28 — Claudg.  Allen  caught. 

's* March  29 — Friel  Allen  captured. 

April  30 — Trial  of  Floyd  Allen  for  murder  of  Commonwealth’s 
ney  Foster  begun  *  .  ;■ 

May  17 — Floyd  Allen  sentenced  to  death.  ;  ^ 

May  20-^T)t:^^  of  Claude  Allen  begun. 


Jtnie 

June 

July 


fV 


murder. 


,uly 
$ept. 

'Igl; 

Oct. 
Nov. 
Nov. 
Nov. 
Nov. 
Dec. 
Dec. 


Dec 


March 


-Claude  iAllen  given  25  yearJ^for  second-degr( 

-S'eeond  )trial  of  Claude  Allen  begun. 

13 —  ClauxfejfAllen  jury  unable  to  agree,  and  discharged. 

19^ — Thii^  trial  of  Claude  Allen  begun, 

27 — Claude  Allen  sentenced  to  death.  . 

14—  Sidna  Allen  and  Wesley  Edwards  arrested  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa." 
l^h riel  Allen  sentenced  to  15  years;  Sidna  Edwards  to  18  years. 
23— Sidna  Allen  and  Wesley  Edwards  arraigned*at  Hillsvdle. 

— ^Floyd  Allen  and  Claude^jAllen  sent  to  prison  for  execution.  " 
< — Trial  6f  Sidna  Allen  b'^un.  *  V 

38— Supreme  Coust  refuses  appeal  of  Floyd  and  Claude  Allen, 
p— Floyd  and  Claude  Alien  respited  to  December  13.  ■ 

22— Sidna^  Allen  given  15  years  f«:  second-degree  murder. 

3— Second*  trial  of  Siflna  Allen  b^un. 

11— Sidn^  Allen  given  5  years,  also  15  years  on  compromise.  isVes- 
ley  Edwards  also  agrees  to  compromise  verdict,  and  is  given 
27  years-  in  penitentiary.  Floyd  and  Clauoe  Allen  respited  to- 
Jan^ry  17.  ^ 

,14— Sidna” Allen  and  Wesley  Edwards  i^eceived  at  State  prison.  ' 
i.yi.O.  ^ 

10— Petition  in  •yecond  appeal  for  Floyd  and  Claude  Alien  filed  with 
Supreme  Court. 

15—  Petition  refused. 

16—  Floyd  and  Claude  Allen  respit'ed  tckMarch  7. 

'  ~^*M^  (or  justice  made  "by  attorneys  J^fore  Governor 

6— Gc^ernor  refuses  appeal,  and  fixes  2$  as  date  m 

execution.  ' 


